Ancient Futures of Teaching Novels: In Search of the Possibility of the (Im)possible Close Reading

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to answer a simple but difficult question: how do we teach novels in the midst of the fierce competition in the current world. It has been a half century since the death of the novel was first declared; and now it is no longer news that literature courses―let alone novel reading classes―are rapidly disappearing from our university curriculum. In order to confront such a crisis, various analytical strategies have been suggested and tested in the recent literary studies, among which Franco Moretti’s timely proposal on “distant reading,” has become an attractive option for teaching novels. Handy summaries and video clips are flooding trendy high-tech university classrooms and subsequently drowning the old-fashioned method of traditional literary education. However, I would argue that the literary courses, in particular the fiction curriculum, ought to preserve the ancient methodology of close reading despite the unassailable pressure from the globally swiping neoliberal rat race. Close reading, as ancient it may sound, would let us see the novel futures of the novels as well as the novelty of the world.