I once had a delightful student who, despite her actual talent for interpretation, would get incredibly frustrated by the ambiguity of much of the literature that we would read for class. I could always see the wheels turning and her brows furrowing when she would begin to explain her interpretation, particularly when she didn’t quite have an end in sight. As a major in social sciences, she wanted unambiguous results and quantifiable answers.
And that’s just not what we do in literary studies.
From my perspective, it was actually delightful: when I see students struggle like that, I know that they’re developing intellectually. I’ve always enjoyed the ambiguity of interpretation – or at least the possibility of multiple interpretations. I’ve also generally been most interested in the many links that we can make across works of literature. Continue reading “Embracing Ambiguity”