Thus, interpretation is not (as most people assume) an absolute value, a
gesture of mind situated in some timeless realm of capabilities.
Interpretation must itself be evaluated, within a historical view of
human consciousness. In some cultural contexts, interpretation is a
liberating act. It is a means of revising, of transvaluing, of escaping
the dead past. In other cultural contexts, it is reactionary,
impertinent, cowardly, stifling. Today is such a time, when the project
of interpretation is largely reactionary, stifling.
-- Susan Sontag. "Against Interpretation"
Against interpretation, and other essays.
New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux [1966]