One of the most valuable skills a student can take away from their formal education is the ability to learn, as Jane Gallop, distinguished professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, aptly mentioned in her lecture, “The Ethics of Close Reading,” Thursday night in Morgan Hall.
While it is impossible to discover every bit of knowledge that is needed for life in four short years, Gallop said it is possible to learn the ability of literary analysis through close reading.
“Close reading is learning to hear what’s really on the page, listening closely to the other and being willing to catch what the other actually says, and able to hear what we didn’t expect him to say,” Gallop said, further explaining the concept.
In a vibrant combination of wit, irony and bluntness, Gallop explained to the audience how close reading is “the most valuable thing English ever had to offer.” It means opening the mind to read and learn from a text, instead of beginning a book with preconceived ideas of what the words will say.
“Close reading can be a technique to make us see what we don’t already know,” Gallop said.
Gallop pointed out that close reading focuses on thinking outside the box and looking at small details that the reader cannot easily predict beforehand as they can with overall perceptions.
“This lecture gave me a vocabulary with which to articulate to my students what I expect from them in their papers, particularly in teaching analyses of texts in [English] 101 and 102 classes,” said Jesse Paul, a second-year graduate student studying English composition.
Additionally, Gallop said she is afraid that close reading skills are few and far between in her undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She went on to say that she is not confident that the concept is widely taught or theorized.
“[Gallop’s] discussion of beginning close readings with undergraduates affects my view of teaching writing and literature,” said Elizabeth Ellis, a graduate student studying English. “Most of my professors were trained in new criticism so I am familiar with the practice of close reading. It was enlightening to consider that I will encounter students who have not been trained in close reading.”
During the lecture, Gallop recalled how she was once questioned the element of pleasure many students hope to find when they read in one of her talks. She chooses to refer to a strong advocate for the art of close reading, Gayatrai Spivak, who is quoted as saying, “it’s one of the few pleasures left in life…The human being takes pleasure in being surprised.”
Gallop said when a person is surprised and thrust into the now in disjunction from the foreseen and expected, pleasure is found.
Additionally, close reading examines the concept of exploring meaning from individual words instead of isolating the main idea.
Gallop insists that by looking at writers through close reading techniques, the reader ceases to idolize or demonize them and forget previous misconceptions and prejudices.
