This post illustrates the great need for something French philosopher Paul Ricouer (1913-2005) described in his ‘Freud and Philosophy’ (1970): the importance of an interpretive system he called the ‘school of suspicion’ which looks for motives behind a theory’s claims to meaning: impulses, class interests, will to power. This became an essential component of critical literary and social theory. We learn to read every statement in a story as meaning the opposite of what it seems to say in order to unmask motivated falsehoods and deceptions. As interpreters we uncover what is latent because every perspective may conceal others. This approach teaches us to notice political speech that hides oppression and discrimination, to be attentive to depth and complexity, to ‘suspect’ that more may be going on than meets the eye. This is how I have read your post to great profit. Ricouer also described a ‘school of faith or restoration of meaning’ which is where I would place your work. Thanks so much !
