Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :Truth and Method
In a certain sense interpretation probably is re-creation, but this is a re-creation not of the creative act but of the created work, which has to be brought to representation in accord with the meaning the interpreter finds in it.
We already know Gadamer is super into the whole text-in-tradition thing. As far as interpreting goes for this guy, when you read to understand, the meaning of the work comes to you not like a fish to a net or a football to a wide receiver. You’re more like a builder working from a blueprint that allows you some freedom for how to realize the building.
Reading is not like following the instructions to a Lego set, where you do just what the instructions indicate. You can build your own construction of course, but that means putting aside the instructions to make a unique (and not always successful) design. Imagine, though, that a Lego set came with instructions that didn’t tell you where to put every piece. Imagine that the directions let you choose where and how to place pieces—some that come with the set, others that you had already—while still giving some parameters.
Whatever boat or castle or tiny town you create is your interpretation of the instructions. It’s not a rewriting of the instructions, but your own creation based on the meaning you interpreted from the loose guidelines this new-fangled Lego idea presented to you.
What about literature, (not just lego-rature)? When you interpret a text you produce something based on the “instructions” of the text—the meaning you find in its words and sentences. That production may be related to the ideas from the original author’s head, or may be relatively new because you prefer castles to boats in your own personal Legoland. Whatever the case, both the original intention and your own form of understanding are at play.