In place of hermeneutics, we need an erotics of art: Against Interpretation by Susan Sotang.
Susan Sontag’s essay titled Against Interpretation questions the conventional method of interpreting literature and the arts and promotes a more immediate and visceral engagement with the work.
She debates on how the oldest reception of art was purer and based on sensations only but now how the subjectivity and interpretation has taken away the true essence of art. She discusses the theologies of Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who with their theories of imitation and art as a therapy still focused on the content.
The author analyses
the relationship between content and form, challenging traditional thinking that divides one from the other. She argues that when we see an artwork through a narrow lens, we limit its entire potential. As an outcome, the aesthetic worth of art is not just derived from its intended message, but also from its form, which should not be discounted or neglected.
She further argues that the traditional criticism overburdens art with symbolism and implications, robbing it of its essential mystery and potency. That resultantly, confines art to a single, unidimensional meaning or message, as this limits its ability to transmit a wide range of feelings and interpretations.
She calls for a new type of criticism that appreciates the form and the sensory experience it delivers, rather than looking for hidden meanings or narratives. According to her, this would allow us to interact with art more deeply, opening up perception channels that are currently barred by intellectual constructions.
Sontag expresses her notion of a "erotics of art," arguing that the sensory act of experiencing art directly, fully immersed and engaged, should be valued more than factual and intellectual analysis. Sontag believed that art exists for sensory absorption and pleasure rather than rigorous academic research. As, it takes away the essence with which an art piece is made and makes it impure and thus less significant.
It seemed to me. . . that they would not be “my” readers but readers of their own selves, my book being merely a sort of magnifying glass. . . . with it I would furnish them the means of reading what lay inside themselves.--Marcel Proust (1982, p. 1089)
I personally partially agree with Susan Sotang arguments. As she says that art should be received with an attitude of what emotions and feelings we get from experiencing an art piece rather than criticising its making and creative process by imposing some theoretical frameworks on it, so the later point is true as we are living in a world where every text is manipulated and degraded to fit in desired theories which is truly an insult to the art work. But I disagree with giving no importance to the content, as the content matters we should try to understand what the artist tries to portray but shouldn’t try to manipulate text to fit in our desired form.
