1.4 Understanding and Interpreting Historic Perso...
According to the historical development of hermeneutics, there are two different theories concerning interpretation: Author-centered theory and Readercentered theory.The former is a strict adherence to the original work and the thoughts of the author, which aim is to discover the original meaning behind the works.Reader-centered theory emphasizes the subjectivity of the interpreter and aims to unfold a new world in front of the work.(https://www.daowen.com)
Historic personality’s residence is a kind of cultural heritage which record the life and work experience of a famous individual.On the one hand, as a special ‘historical text’, this historic significant residence needs ‘readers’ to objectively verify and restore its original meaning, avoiding misunderstanding as much as possible.On the other hand, the residence is essentially a spatial form with practical functions.It is not confined to the historical context of antiques, but with the needs and characteristics of different times and the development of functional space.In this space, the continuous change of characters, behavior, events and other factors determines the variability of this residential heritage.Similar to the development from objective interpretation to subjective understanding of hermeneutics, in the first step of the historic residence protection, the policy-making and protection behavior mainly focuses on the objective behavior of investigation, survey, research and interpretation of historical buildings, rescuing, maintaining and restoring their authenticity.In the second step, on the basis of protecting the authenticity of residence, the main content is to emphasize public participation and reconstruct its significance in combination with the characteristics of different times, so as to better integrate it into contemporary society and public life.Therefore, Author-centered theory of hermeneutics meets the needs of the authentic characteristic of heritage preservation, while Readercentered theory reflects the needs of heritage development combined with current understanding and interpretation within contemporary society.