Criticism and Truth: On Method in Literary Studies
Jonathan Kramnick, "Criticism and Truth: On Method in Literary Studies "
English | ISBN: 0226830535 | 2023 | 137 pages | PDF | 1345 KB
English | ISBN: 0226830535 | 2023 | 137 pages | PDF | 1345 KB
A defense and celebration of the discipline of literary studies and its most distinctive practice—close reading.
Does literary criticism offer truths about the world? In Criticism and Truth, Jonathan Kramnick offers a new and surprising account of criticism’s power by zeroing in on its singular method: close reading. Long recognized as the distinctive technique of literary studies, close reading is the critic’s way of pursuing arguments and advancing knowledge, as well as the primary skill taught in the English major. But it is also more than that—a creative, immersive, and transformative writing practice that fosters a unique kind of engagement with the world. Drawing on the rich and varied landscape of contemporary criticism, Kramnick changes how we think about the basic tools of literary analysis, including the art of in-text quotation, summary, and other reading methods, helping us to see them as an invaluable form of humanistic expertise.
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