Close Reading as Attentional Practice - by Marion Thain & Ewan Jones (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first cross-historical study of the relationship between methods of close reading and discourses on attention.

Book Synopsis

Modernity of the digital age is beset by accusations that we are more distracted than ever, and that attention spans have become problematically compressed. It is an important moment, then, to explore the capacity of the tools of 'close reading' offered by our humanities disciplines to help develop and enable self-reflexivity around our attentional practices. These practices did not begin with the famous proponents of the early twentieth century but have been in formation since at least the Middle Ages. Exploring examples from the twelfth to the twentieth century, this book explores how methods of reading closely have been tools over the centuries for changing or challenging attentional habits and therefore changing the way the world is experienced.

Review Quotes

When attention is under siege, reading remains our best defence - not as shelter, but as training. Across centuries, from Bernard of Clairvaux to Austen and Proust and beyond, reading teaches us to notice how we notice. The essays in this volume do the same: by attending to each other, they invite us to join the conversation.--David Marno, University of California, Berkeley