Conclusion: Beyond Formalist Criticism and Reader-Response Theory

Close Reading: A Synergistic Approach to the (Post)Modern Divide

“…Unfortunately the practical benefits of close reading are often overshadowed by the philosophical prominence of postmodernism (Davis and Womack 2002). The close reading skills of which I write were generated in response to the modernist literary move-*Email: michael.lockett@queensu.ca 400 M. Lockett ment.…”

“…Eliot in England, attempted supreme objectivity, considering the text before and above and disconnected from the context. According to Davis and Womack (2002):…”

“…Furthermore we should encourage this pursuit in our students. And this is a key feature in the science, in the faith of formalists: if the text is an organic unity, we must avoid contaminating it with external contagion (Brooks and Warren 1960; Davis and Womack 2002). Analysis cannot achieve objective sterility, but the assertions of New Criticism justify an attempt to rescue our students from contaminated subjectivity and syntactical mire.…”

“…If we are to maintain the life, the organic unity within a text, then we must keep our analysis free from the misunderstandings so often found when students impose unsubstantiated and archetypical interpretations upon the text (Davis, Smith, and Leflore 2008;Luce-Kapler et al 2006). Davis and Womack (2002) cite I.A. Richards's New Critical warnings against the dangers of these pathogens:…”

“…Unfortunately that type of cohesion is neglected in our theoretical or metatheoretical discourse. Davis and Womack (2002) suggest that the dispute is a product of the radical stances favoured by leading formalists. Eliot was adamant that the text was sacred and immune from the concerns of contemporaneous contexts.…”