Reading Day 3
HistoryEJR #essay, #history, #interpretation, #meaning
Proper order of things —> History. At least that is what we expect history to be. An accurate plot and story of what happened in the past. The strange thing is, I believe we can never be sure, at least when it’s not a personal lived experience. And even then, certainty is a fickle thing… I wonder what history (happened reality) might be, if signs, readings, and interpretations are always personal, different, and forever wayward and changing (Johnson). Can history therefore be a fixed thing, a law that we can, as it were, depend upon? I think not. If interpretations are ambiguous, and actions are too, then how can a fixed moment in time be called history? Because, surely, we are so keen to look into the past, in order to comprehend the present, or predict the near future. But, if signs are in their essence ambiguous, then I believe history must be built up of multiple, interchangeable, interlacing histories (more importantly herstories and theirstories). Because, if a book is built on three characters that can all be read differently according to what you want to see and read, and to your own historical knowledge and understanding, then the story of Billy Budd (Melville) can not be interpreted in just 4 ways, but in thousands or even millions of different ways; as numerous as people on this planet. My knowledge is not your knowledge, so our interpretations and the ways we read a sign are entirely personal and entirely different from one another. Fiction can almost feel more real than reality.
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