Chapter 9

INTERPRETATIVE CRITICISM (HERMENEUTIC)

Internal criticism deals with the mental operations which begin with the observation of a fact and end with the writing of words in a document--It is divided into two stages: the first concerned with what the author meant, the second with the value of his statements 141

Necessity of separating the two operations--Danger of reading opinions into a text 143

The analysis of documents--The method of slips--Completeness necessary 145

Necessity of linguistic study--General knowledge of a language not enough--Particular variety of a language as used at a given time, in a given country, by a given author--The rule of context 146

Different degrees of difficulty in interpretation 149

Oblique senses: allegory, metaphor, &c.--How to detect them--Former tendency to find symbolism everywhere--Modern tendency to find allusion everywhere 151

Results of interpretation--Subjective inquiries 153