Summary and Close Reading Papers

Summary:

Because close reading analyzes rather than summarizes, it is important in formal literary criticism to provide a summary of the text for readers. Writing a summary is a simple process that is challenging to produce. Basically, a summary is a short version of the original text. Summaries focus on the major elements of text and remove a lot of the detail. Thus summaries must include all of the essential information from the text in a reduced, condensed form. The important tasks for the summarizer are to a) identify which elements have to be included and b) reproduce those elements in trim, streamlined, clear language.

Here are some additional features of summaries:

· Summaries are always shorter than the original.

· Summaries move chronological through the original.

· Literary summaries use literary present tense.

· Summaries are objective and are not analytical or subjective.

Close Reading:

Close reading is one of the primary methods of formal literary criticism. It is the building block upon which almost all interpretations and arguments rest. No matter how abstract, esoteric or theoretical a reading is, at some level, it utilizes close reading.

On the surface, the process of close reading is exactly what it sounds like: 1) reading the text closely, paying attention to its elements – structural, rhetorical, cultural, etc. 2) then, closely interpreting the elements in order to construct a reading or possible meaning about the text. Essentially, close reading involves observing a specific element or elements in the text and then drawing a conclusion based on them. Close readings are then not objective statements of content; they are interpretive and thus should be contestable (i.e. room for disagreement or a counter reading).

Close reading place the authority for interpretation in the text itself. While often scholars and critics will often pair the method of close reading with a theoretical perspective or historical context. Close reading, itself, only focuses on the text.

Consider Paul de Man’s quote regarding close reading from his book, The Resistance to Theory:

Students were not to say anything that was not derived from the text they were considering.  They were not to make any statements that they could not support by a specific use of language that actually occurred in the text.  They were asked, in other words, to begin by reading texts closely as texts and not to move at once into the general context of human experience or history.  Much more humbly or modestly, they were to start out from the bafflement that such singular turns of tone, phrase, and figure were bound to produce in readers attentive enough to notice them and honest enough not to hide their non-understanding behind the screen of received ideas that often passes, in literary instruction, for humanistic knowledge. (23)

A successful close reading relies only on the text and does not draw upon outside experiences/information, including the personal experience of reading, information about the author’s life or beliefs, or historical or contemporary texts. It does draw larger conclusions from seemingly “small” details but these conclusions are about the text rather than humanity or culture. Close reading puts the text in a vacuum and focuses only on the language of the text.

Here are a few simple steps to assist in close reading:

1) Read with a pencil or pen and annotate the text.

Mark words that seem significant. Take notes in the margin. Look for and mark specific language use, figurative language (metaphor, simile, imagery, irony, etc), tone, rhetorical devices, themes, and references to specific issues or ideas (such as gender, race, culture, etc) that interest you.

2) Identify pattern(s) in the text.

See if an element is repeated or evolves throughout the text. For instance, does the text use a specific metaphor or metaphor group (like metaphors for war) multiple times? If so, how are those usages similar or contradictory?

3) Interpret/Analyze the pattern.

Determine the significance of the pattern by asking questions such as how and why the pattern exists. What is the text suggesting through the pattern? What is the larger issue at stake? How does the pattern inform the meaning of the work as a whole? The metaphoric verb: “To unpack” captures this process.

4) Develop your thesis.

Write a one sentence “conclusion” (though it will come in the opening to your paper) that connects this pattern to an interpretation.

Note that the best close readings are bold and take the reader beyond the obvious interpretation to open new possibilities and ideas. Avoid the obvious.  Your thesis should be open for argument. If it isn’t, then you are not going far enough.

Also remember that your thesis should not make generalizations about the world outside of the text. Your argument is about the text not about the world. Connect this element to the larger themes of the work, explaining how it supports, contradicts or develops them.

Now you are ready to write the close reading. You want to present your close reading in a solid and clear argumentative structure. You will begin with a thesis that clearly outlines the examined element and the larger interpretation that your close reading will make. In the body of the close reading, you will illustrate those elements through exact quotations from the text and then precisely and explicitly analyze that evidence to show how it supports your reading. The paragraphs analyze; they do not summarize.

Assignment:

For the first 4 summary and close reading papers, you will choose a piece of literature we have read as a class and write a short summary and close reading of it based on the information above.

These papers have three required elements:

1) 300 word summary of the text,

2) 500-800 word close reading of a specific element which argues how that element functions in the text, and, in doing so, provides an interpretation of the text, and

3) a clear thesis which outlines the close reading and argument. The thesis can appear before the summary or at the beginning of the close reading section. In either case, it needs to be underlined.

Format: Your paper must be 800-1100 words, in a plain 11-12 pt font with one inch margins all around. It must conform exactly to MLA style for format, in-text citation, and Works Cited page.

Due Dates: (see calendar for rough draft due dates where applicable)

Paper #1: 1/26

Paper #2: 2/11

Paper #3: 2/25

Paper #4: 3/9