Close Reading

"[A] convenient, one-volume collection of seminal 20th century essays of speculative thought on and criticism of literature. . . . [T]his anthology offers the reader a fresh opportunity to reconsider the relative strengths, weaknesses, and commonalities of what Burke himself called 'extrinsic' and 'intrinsic' critical approaches. Recommended." - S. E. Gregg , Choice

"This book is like no other. . . . It provides a multifaceted and dialogic textual interplay of voices that create for its readers rich opportunities for both scholarship and teaching. . . . Close Reading 'testifies' to the ways expert readers make meaning by paying close attention to the nuances of symbol and language, ideology and structure that make up the muscles and bones of literature. And isn't that what literature professors do, too?"
- Christine Chaney , Pedagogy

“Close Reading is an extremely valuable instrument of literary pedagogy. It recalls its readers to the ethical responsibilities as well as the aesthetic pleasures which are inextricably intertwined within their individual acts of reading.” - Donald E. Pease, Dartmouth College

”A history, a tool for teaching, a work of learned analysis, this book mediates importantly for a divided discipline, between ’formalists’ and those who do ’cultural studies.’ ’Close reading,’ it shows, necessarily connects all serious criticism, and its argument becomes the basis for a strong pedagogy and for disciplinary rethinking.” - George Levine, Rutgers University

”Debating close reading means doing it. By displaying the inheritance of the greatest New Critics in many of today's greatest critics, this new anthology revives, renews, and advances the cause of literary studies. Andrew DuBois’s long introduction close-reads the close readers with brilliant fidelity, insight, and wit.” - Marshall Brown, University of Washington

”This is an important anthology that challenges the assumption of a radical break between formalism and the criticism that followed it. Andrew DuBois’s fine introductory essay usefully fills out the history of the New Criticism, while forcing a reconsideration of some currently widespread theoretical assumptions. The thoughtfully chosen essays anthologized in Close Reading persuasively demonstrate the continuities between formalist and post-formalist criticism and, at the same time, show students the value of close and critical reading.” - Suzy Anger, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

”This scintillating book shows that the alleged death of close reading at the hands of theory and the turn away from literary works themselves have been greatly exaggerated.” - Gerald Graff, University of Illinois, Chicago