Close Reading
Fri, Jan 16
As I came close, did it surprise me that I could understand the language the words were written in? Yes. Did it fill me with a kind of elation and dread intertwined? Yes. I tried to suppress the thousand new questions rising up inside of me. In as calm a voice as I could manage, aware of the importance of that moment, I read from the beginning, aloud...
— Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation
Goals
- Practice close reading.
- Identify different kinds of reading and different relationships readers create with texts.
- Begin to think about the relationship between language and “nature."
Read This:
- Read Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation, Ch 1–2
Do This:
Fieldbbook Entry 1: Find a short passage in Annihilation that you find particularly striking, approximately a paragraph, definitely no more than a page, and copy it into your fieldbook. In 3-4 paragraphs, discuss why you find it interesting. Look at the sentences, the structure of the paragraph, and the way the words work together.