Informations du cours

Disclaimer: this course description is likely to sound more boring than the proseminar is bound to be! Close reading is a method, but in 2026 it’s also a statement. At a time when attention spans are said to be shrinking; when text is produced expertly by machines; when images have become the leitmedium for many, the kind of careful engagement with literary texts that close reading stands for provides a countermodel to some of these overarching tendencies. Close reading has been a key practice in literary studies for several decades, but it has also become a subject of lively scholarly interest in recent years.   Thus, prominent critics such as Jonathan Kramnick and John Guillory have directed our attention to the creative potential and the public relevance of close reading. In this proseminar we will focus on close reading as a skill we need to cultivate for the study of English literature. But we will think more generally of different approaches to reading and the creative potential that inheres in reading. The proseminar will introduce students to different categories that inform close reading, based on a varied selection of literary texts belonging to different genres and periods. Thus, not only will we reflect on close reading as a method, but we will also explore a diversity of texts reflective of the breadth and beauty of modern English literature across the ages.