Revitalizing Close Reading

Abstract:Modernism and Close Reading, a book of collected essays edited by David James, provides a much-needed reassessment of close reading’s history and a projection for its potential future. While close reading has suffered many attacks in the recent reading method debates, the first part of this book shows that close reading had a more complex history than is often portrayed, including multiple manifestations and possible points of origin. The second part of the book then looks at how close reading can be rethought to remain productive in literary studies today.