writing in the dust

If interpretation is more like getting a joke than it is like dissecting a frog, then only certain kinds of people will be good interpreters…. What, after all, can one do with someone who has no sense of humor? Analysis and teaching might improve things marginally, but that person’s main problem is not a technical but a spiritual one: somebody without a sense of humor suffers from a contracted soul, and the only real solution is conversion. Interpretive skills can be taught and improved, but only the glad of heart make good readers.