When disagreement does arise, it’s more usually a matter of engaging with the reading rather than the text itself. That is, some interpretations receive more support than others, and are more likely to be written about, thus privileging a certain reading of the text over others. We are taught to do this at school (or at any rate, I was), and while at university we may be told there is no right or wrong way to approach a text, and that each interpretation is equally valid, some interpretations still seem to be more valid than others. Execute the correct series of moves and the object springs open neatly, revealing all its secrets. There is a dreadful temptation to treat a text as though it were some sort of puzzle box.
