Trying to comprehend a text without living within its specific

>>9795217

great works address all of humanity throughout all time

>>9795220
How so? They certainly do not account for all the nuance and information which occurs over time. Parts of great works address parts of parts of humanity through part of the time. So why settle for partial answers?

>>9795265

>How so?

There are fundamental aspects of being human that do not change so long as humans remain human. This is how it is possible for certain works to resonate long after their zeitgeist has faded away. You have it exactly backwards. A work's zeitgeist is actually the least important thing about it.

>>9795217
>Trying to comprehend a text without living within its specific zeitgeist/cultural milieu
It does give you insight of the zeitgeist/cultural milieu

so what? you want me to disregard everything that wasn't written for my specific time/place in the world?

Then all I have left is The Hunger Games and some Danielle Steele

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>>9795217
Reading it in the language doesn't lend all that much to understanding the "zeitgeist/cultural milieu"
Only closer, deeper and more varied reading can help with this. The rest can only be your imagination. Like the Jurassic Park dinosaurs DNA.

Nice pic

thats what footnotes are for

i was reading harry potter in chinese and the footnotes would explain traditions/things that aren't alien to the chinese

although it's a bit harder to do for cultural references because no matter how well they are explained the humour is lost in translation

>>9795217
You can learn it through historical texts and scholarly interpretations.

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>reductive and appropriative
And?