Assignment 5

Summary: Peter Barry, "Tackling Textuality - With Theory"

In “Tackling Textuality - With Theory” Peter Barry begins by briefly presenting ten key elements of close reading, which according to him are as essential as they are insufficient in the analysis of a literary work. He goes on to explain the importance of literary theory and how it can elucidate new aspects of a work by examining its relation to history, language, gender and psychoanalysis. To illustrate this, Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 is used as an example and a short analysis is made showing how the interpretation of the text can be sharpened by an additional understanding of the context of the work and other outside references. Barry argues that within literary theory the method of deconstructive reading is particularly useful for gaining valuable insights into a text. It is an approach that aims to magnify the contradictions and chaos inherent to all literature rather than to piece together interpretations that give the appearance of order. To exemplify, Barry applies the method in the analysis of two poems, focusing on the linguistic aspect of the texts. He finally acknowledges on the one hand that deconstructive reading and literary theory often raise more questions than they answer. But on the other hand he concludes that if the complexity really is to be found then merely finding it is itself desirable and intriguing.

Keywords: literary theory, deconstructive reading, textuality, linguistics, close reading.