What do we do in English? Well, on the face of it, we don’t do much. We don’t build buildings, create software for computers, or handle large sums of money (unfortunately). We simply read and write. As it turns out, however, these skills are not as easily understood or developed as they might appear. Most Americans beyond the age of six or seven can read and write something, but once learned the skills of literacy remain somewhat opaque to our analysis and reflections. As English majors you’re supposed to learn (or have already mastered) the ability to “close-read,” whatever that means, and while it is indeed part of the foundation of the discipline, close-reading itself requires different kinds of attention according to the context of when and why we’re reading and the demands of what we’re reading. So, in this course, we will consider the act and art of close-reading, by studying several theorists who are very good readers in their own ways. We will read Freud, Clifford Geertz, John Berger, and Judith Butler as they close-read very different kinds of texts—from stories, to cultural practices, to paintings. As we consider the assumptions and practices that make them good readers, we will also apply their models to a set of texts, from Fight Club, to a gothic story, to Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. We will be paying attention to ways we read for pleasure, as well as what kinds of pleasure are involved in this particular and peculiar form of attentiveness we call close-reading. Assignments will include several short essays and a presentation.