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Quote :From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II
The concept of distanciation is the dialectical counterpart of the notion of belonging, in the sense that we belong to a historical tradition through a relation of distance which oscillates between remoteness and proximity. To interpret is to render near what is far (temporally, geographically, culturally, spiritually). In this respect, mediation by the text is the model of a distanciation which would not be simply alienating, like the Verfremdung that Gadamer combats throughout his work…but which would be genuinely creative. The text is, par excellence, the basis for communication in and through distance.
Confusing metaphors, Batman! Is Ricoeur asserting that readers should take a book in hand and hold it as far away as possible? Thankfully, no. Especially if you’re nearsighted.
What Ricoeur means is that the flip side of our being immersed in worlds is our distance from them. The same text may, in different ways, be both close and distant from the reader.
A religious text like the Bible illustrates this. For a Christian community, the stories and teachings and passages of the Bible are on the tips of their tongues; they recite lines from it and try to put it into practice in their own lives.
Conversely, the events of the Bible and the historical worlds to which it belong are distant worlds, made all the more distant by their historical obscurity. Is someone really going to fear that they’ll turn into a pile of salt? Debatable. Still, for lots of readers, reading the text brings the Biblical worlds close to the reader, even though the saltier ones may remain somewhat remote.
Whether you’re talking Bible, Buddhism, or Dan Brown, Ricoeur’s theory of distanciation wasn’t about contradicting Gadamer’s description of belonging to tradition. However, he did present it as a corrective or addition to the earlier philosopher’s work. So you can think really hard about Verfremdung (that’s the German for the whole distancing thing) next time you’re reading a book, no matter how close to you’re face you’re holding it.