Full Description
Techniques of Close Reading, Second Edition helps students gain a deeper understanding of what texts may be saying, whether they are written, oral, visual, or mediated. Renowned scholar and professor Barry Brummett explains and explores the various ways to "read" messages (such as speeches, cartoons, or magazine ads), teaching students how to see deeper levels of meaning and to share those insights with others. Students learn techniques for discovering form, rhetorical tropes, argument, and ideologies within texts.
New to the Second Edition:
A new Chapter 6 includes a selection of techniques from each chapter to show students how different techniques may be used together when reading text.
A close reading of a group of ads from the insurance company, Liberty Mutual, offers students an opportunity to apply the techniques to recent texts.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. On Noticing What You See and Hear
Being a Reader, Being a Critic
Summary and Looking Ahead
Chapter 2. Theories, Methods, Techniques
Exploring New Territories: Thinking Deductively and Inductively
Starting From the Top, Deductively: Theories and Their Methods
Knowledge, Risk, and Ethics in Theories and Methods
Working With Theories and Methods
Halfway Down, Deductively: Methods and Techniques
Heading Back Up Again, Inductively: From Techniques to Theory
Summary and Looking Ahead
Chapter 3. Using Form for Close Reading
Narrative
Genre
Persona
Form and Politics
Summary and Looking Ahead
Chapter 4. Ideology and Argument
Four Questions to Ask About a Text
Putting Our Questions Together: A Brief Example
Three Examples for Close Reading
Summary and Looking Ahead
Chapter 5. Transformations in Texts: Seeing Beneath the Surface
Metaphor
Metonymy
Synecdoche
Irony
Summary and Looking Ahead
Chapter 6. Close Readings Using Multiple Techniques
The First Inauguration of Barack Obama in a Cartoon
A Group of Ads for Liberty Mutual
Chapter 7. Conclusion
References and Recommended Reading
Index
About the Author
