Überinterpretation

Überinterpretation, often translated as over-interpretation, is the practice of attributing more meaning to a text, symbol, or behavior than the evidence warrants. It involves reading latent content, hidden intentions, or universal schemes into the material, beyond what the author or the text itself clearly supports.

In literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and cultural theory, überinterpretation is used as a critique of readings that project the interpreter's theories onto the object rather than deriving meaning from the text's explicit content and historical context.

Examples include reading a novel as condemning a political regime because of a recurring image, regardless of authorial intent; interpreting a dream as revealing a universal sexual wish for every dreamer; or treating a film as an allegory of metaphysical order when no explicit allegory is present.

Responses to überinterpretation emphasize evidence-based interpretation, considering authorial intention as a factor but not a constraint, and weighing the text's internal logic, motifs, and historical milieu. Critics warn that over-interpretation can erase ambiguity, bias the interpretation, and obscure alternative readings. Methodologically, it is advised to distinguish between plausible readings and speculative ones, and to disclose the interpretive frame used.

See also: hermeneutics, close reading, intentional fallacy, overreading.