On rereading.

June 12, 2019 11:44 AM

I read a lot, mostly because I love it, but also because I hope it'll help me become a better writer. However, I'm realizing that it's probably equally important for me to actually reread stuff and really study the mechanics, vs just reading a lot of new stuff. I'd love to explore essays or books that are about the concept of rereading.

I'm already aware of:
My Life in Middlemarch
The Guardian's Rereading series

posted by estlin to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

More concerning mechanics rather than the specific idea of 'rereading': The Bedford Reader. I learned a ton having had a course centered on this in undergrad. Ymmv. Could be too low-level. Excerpt(PDF, yo). Check out the questions at the end. Fwiw.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:55 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I think Francine Prose's book Reading Like a Writer would be a good choice. The subtitle is "A guide for people who love books and those who want to write them." It's basically just an elucidation of "close reading," but I found it really illuminating.
posted by holborne at 1:04 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you don't mind a theoretical work, Barbara Johnson's review of Roland Barthes's S/Z begins with the suggestion that "literary criticism as such can perhaps be called 'the art of rereading.'"
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 6:55 PM on June 12, 2019

If you're looking for academic/conceptual discussions, and have access to scholarly journals in literary studies, I'd recommend Christopher Cannon, "The Art of Rereading," ELH 80.2 (2013), pp. 401-425, who discusses the concept at length and who also cites Carolyn Heilbrun, “From Rereading to Reading,” PMLA 119 (2004), which sounds like a very thoughtful discussion too. The works cited in both these articles probably point to quite a few other academic treatments of the concept.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:31 AM on June 13, 2019

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, published in the 1960s, remains a classic of the genre. It's basic thrust is that serious works require 3 readings, an initial rapid read, a secondary read for analyzing the author's arguments and themes, and a third, more personal reading, to essentially "argue" with the text over its merits and claims. The book walks you through how and when to do these type of reads.
posted by caveatz at 12:50 PM on June 13, 2019