Assignement 6

Original text

“Firstly, I want to offer a check-list of the kind of operations we perform when we tackle textuality without any particular resort to theory. I will then ask what is missing, and suggest four areas which the traditional approach doesn't quite cover, using a Shakespeare sonnet by way of illustration. This is followed by a brief description of what is meant by deconstructive reading, and the final section an example of such reading is given, using Adrienne Rich's poem 'Transit.”

Paraphrase

Barry has gathered the most common ways to interpret literature. However, these are not adequate. He will in addition to the typical way of analyzing literature introduce four more elements. By using a Shakespeare sonnet, Barry will give an idea what these four elements look like. Adrienne Rich's poem “Transit, is a good example of what “deconstructive reading” is. This is a concept he will deal with in the end of the text.

Original text

These, then, are some of the main ways in which readers and critics engage with literary texts and begin to put forward accounts of what they mean. So, where does it leave us? The situation is this. We will always need these ten elements of interpretation. Literary criticism can never grow out of them, and they can never be superseded. It's impossible to do English without them. It always was, and it always will be.

Paraphrase

Barry emphasises how important “the ten elements” are. These ten ways to look at literature are indispensable when we interpret literature, he goes to the length of asserting that we can’t analyze literature without them. Barry says that it has always been an important part and it will be continued.

Important words/phrases that should be quoted

There are many terms that are hard to replace with other words or phrases, such as: macro-patterns, ten elements and deconstructive reading.

This paragraph is filled with language terminology and is therefore very hard to rephrase:

“So the deconstructor looks for such things as, firstly, contradictions, secondly, linguistic quirks and aporia, thirdly, shifts or breaks (in tone, viewpoint, tense, person, attitude, etc.), and finally, absences or omissions.”

Review

The author proves in various ways that he masters this area. He makes some really good points, especially by clearly illustrating the differences in Shakespeare’s sonnet. Examples like that are really useful when one is applying them in practice. However, I think Barry throughout the text overuses difficult words and terms. Considering that the first ten elements are quite basic facts.