Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-21)

Topic

Acts of Interpretation

Instructors

Kalyan Nadiminti

Meeting Info

University Library 4670: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

Reading is essential to literature: it is how we imbibe stories and understand narrative. Examining a range of twentieth-century writers from Britain, South Asia, and the United States, this course posits that reading is a necessarily interpretive act, requiring both close attention and conscious method. We will consider how literary texts stage multiple models of textual interpretation. Thereby, we will ask, what is "close reading"? How did it become a key method for literary studies, and how has it been contested by readers? We'll encounter reading models such as "surface" reading, "distant" reading, and "close but not deep" reading. Required texts include classic novels such as Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Toni Morrison's Sula, and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Storie, along with short poems and stories. all of which will all help apply the theories of reading to the act of interpretation. Assignments will include a zine, two short close-reading papers, and a final annotated bibliography.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English students.