For Next Friday: Short Paper #2

Short Paper #2: Poetics & Hermeneutics

“Meaning is an inescapable notion because it is not something simple or simply determined.  It is simultaneously an experience of a subject and a property of a text.  It is both what we try to understand and what in the text we try to understand.” (Culler, Chapter 4 “Language, Meaning, and Interpretation”)

For this short paper (2-3 pages), I want you to write about a short passage from either one of Poe's stories or The Turn of the Screw using the perspective of "poetics" or "hermeneutics."  The passage could be as short as a paragraph or as long as a page, but no longer.  You will perform a close reading of the passage, carefully examining the language and the ideas in the passage to support your theoretical reading/ideas about the story.  Be sure to quote significant passages and explicate them--meaning translate what you think they mean to the reader. 

If you choose "poetics," you should focus on some aspect that is known about the story--something that can be traced back to the text.  For example, biographical details, historical/cultural information, conventions of the Gothic story (narration, etc.), and the expectations of the author's audience are all 'poetic' possibilities.  However, don't do all of them--choose one poetic perspective and examine this passage through this theoretical lens.  Pick a passage that you feel reveals something significant if examined in this way, and examine the language closely to show us the 'clues' and hints sprinkled throughout.  Note that both of our editions offer poetic background for the stories--the Oxford edition of Poe primarily in the notes in the back of the book, and the Bedford edition of James in the Introduction and in the extra materials in the back. 

If you choose "hermeneutics," you should focus on something that is not known and exists outside the text.  For example, Reader Response theory believes that the reader creates meaning in a text, so what might specifically stand out for a 21st century reader?  What 'clues' do we see because of our unique position in the world--a world that comes over a hundred years after both of these stories were written?  OR, you could focus on other theoretical notions that aren't explicit in the text itself, such as issues of psychology (the Uncanny!), gender, sexuality, class, and so forth.  In general, consider how a reader today would encounter this relic of a previous age and civilization.  Remember: a book written in the 17th century about slavery would probably not be sympathetic to the plight of slaves; yet as 21st century readers, that's our overriding sympathy, to the point that we might not be able to stomach the book itself. 

NOTE: This Short Paper will form part of your Critical Paper #1; you should be able to use this almost literally in the body of your longer paper.  So consider ideas that might extend to other parts of the story or to other stories by either author.