Assignment 6

1. Paraphrase important points that come up in the article.

Original text
Theory can help us especially in considering four major aspects of the relationship between literature and the world beyond, these being firstly, literature and history, secondly, literature and language, thirdly, literature and gender, and finally, literature and psychoanalysis.

Paraphrase
Barry holds literary theory as being particularly useful because of its power to unveil the connection between literature and the world outside the text. Theory aids the understanding of the relation between a literary work and its context from four primary perspectives: the historical, the linguistic, the psychoanalytical and the societal, with a focus on gender.



Original text
Literary theory often intensifies the difficulties of reading, and constantly throws up more problems than it is capable of solving. So why do it? Two reasons come at once to mind. Firstly, the complexities it gets itself knotted up in really are there. And secondly, trying to unravel them is enlightening, and sometimes even fun.

Paraphrase
Literary theory manages to often raise more questions than it provides answers, burdening the reader with additional difficulties in a seemingly counterproductive manner. Barry acknowledges this and rhetorically poses the question of what the point is in clinging on to theory. He provides two main reasons. The first being that the complexity uncovered by a more comprehensive understanding of a text should not be ignored; one should not assume that a clearer understanding equals an easier understanding. The second reason is that it is through dealing with the complexity that we gain insights and sometimes also have fun.



2. Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you think should be quoted directly.

If Peter Barry had formulated a new, concise definition of “deconstructive reading” it might have been worth quoting. But seeing as he hardly is the first to explore the subject he appropriately draws upon definitions by other authors, using direct quotes himself. He does however provide a striking simile in which he compares close reading and deconstructive reading to two different ways in which one can stroke a cat. The sentence dealing with deconstructive reading, in particular, could be quotable material for the purpose of expressing the general mindset behind the approach.

“Deconstructive reading is like stroking the cat the wrong way, against the grain of the textual fur, so that the cat bristles and hisses, and the whole situation becomes less predictable.”