Putting it all together…

Reading Critically

There is no perfect or model language or act within a language.

All cultural practices are sign systems, much like language itself.

There is no inherent, natural meanings in anything…all meaning is constructed through the complex relationship between signifiers and signified.

No language act is unbiased or innocent…

Reading Critically

There are many possible, often conflicting, interpretations of a text…all we can do is agree to a tendency of interpretation.

Many communicative acts are political…the desire to influence, gain or maintain power is worth considering when trying to determine the meaning of a work.

Reading Critically

We should never be passive consumers of what we read.

Actively engage a work, don’t passively encounter it.

The checklist: Whose views are being represented, whose interests are being served, what are the intentions, what position are you being invited to take up, cultural assumptions at play, what is missing…

Appreciating Beauty

Close reading for content and form is assessed in this course.

Careful attention to texts and other communicative acts calls attention to construction, style and beauty.

Feeling is valuable even as we approach a text critically.

You do not simply need to pick apart texts coldly and cynically…

Appreciating Beauty

The emotional, sensory and affective nature of texts is as important as the intellectual…we may question our initial feelings, but not at the cost of outright denial…emotional encounters should be recognized and explored.

The individual voice of an artist is valuable…communicative acts often arise from strong emotion or passion.

Appreciating Beauty

Guernica

Appreciating Beauty

The goal is to approach all communicative acts with an eye for both the critical and the aesthetic.

You should be able to both recognize subtle manipulations in an advertisement, and realize why these images are emotional pleasing.

These aspects need not be in opposition, but act in concert toward a richer understanding

Appreciating Beauty

For the following clips take both the Critical Approach…

Whose views are represented?What are the intentions behind them?Whose interests are being served?What cultural assumptions are being

made? Taken for granted?What perspectives are left out?

Appreciating Beauty

…and the Aesthetic Approach

What are your impressions?What is the tone and atmosphere?What is the effect of the imagery, sound?What feelings are stirred by the content?What ideas does the creator wish to convey?How are these ideas suggested or

presented?

Appreciating Beauty

Appreciating Beauty

Pleasure often enhances our experience with language.

Aesthetic responses inform our cultural values and belief systems…when we think about why we enjoy a particular language act we begin to examine our cultural values

An aesthetic experience can help us understand how form and content come together to create meaning or emotion.

Consideration of the aesthetic value of a work gives rise to a demand to consider more critical aspects.

Appreciating Beauty

Literature in translation allows students to take a more global view of literature.

English translations are more subtle approximations of the original than primary documents.

Translation is an art in itself.Translators must often make decisions and

compromises.

Using Technology

What digital resources do you Use?Technology is always changing…but this

does not mean newer media is always superior.

What role does technology play in the writing process?

Cave painting->handwriting->the typewriter->the word processor->Google docs.->?????

Using Technology

We are constantly surrounded by text in a digital environment…and we are constantly producing language using technology.

Are technology driven reading practices different from print driven practices?

What are the implications of global communication?

Do practices such as texting and emailing affect the way we use language?

Using Technology

Using Technology

Using Technology

Creative Intervention…

Machinima is an art that uses an existing platform to create a new work of art…

While viewing this clip ask yourself…What genre would you call this? Is this an original work of art? Does it infringe on the creator’s rights?

Using Technology

Technology can be used in may creative ways to analyze language…

Franco Moretti uses literature as data to map literary trends.

“Distance Reading”…collating data instead of close reading.

Exploring emerging patterns…quite different than simply closely reading texts…

Using Technology

Reading, Listening, and Viewing

We always turn to a text to find meaning or support our ideas.

Looking closely at a text we can see how the devices work together to create meaning.

Being an active reader means much of the power of a text is in your mind.

You are not simply uncovering the thoughts and intentions of an author…

Reading, Listening, and Viewing

New Critics argue that the text is more important than the authors intent.

Barths recommends the “death of the author”, and consequently any possibility of pinning down meaning.

Do not search for the secret meaning locked in a text, but traverse the bottomless space a text offers.

Reading, Listening, and Viewing

Annotating and taking notes will help ensure active reading.

Questions about a text prompt you to look for answers.

Try not to prejudge what you are looking for as it will cloud your reading.