Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

This will be a parody of the novels/authors (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley) based on a close reading of the text.The parody should show an ear for and an understanding of the author’s voice, tone, style, stance, or motifs, etc.

Close Reading Criteria:  Use these to think about your reading.


•    point of entry in story, i.e. where does it begin, how this influences the writing; importance of first line:
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•    structure - how is the story put together: diaphanous or solidly constructed? How much exposition (background info) does the story feature? Locate the story’s complication(s) and crisis—does it arrive early in the story or late.  How and where do these begin building toward the climax, and when does it drop off into the resolution?

•    how does the author indicate that time is passing in the story? How much time does the story span?

•    how is character presented

•    what is the universe of the story/book?

•    what kind of sentences does author write, i.e. rhythm, the way they are strung together, connectors

•    what is good about the story/book? Where does it fail?
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texture of work, how created, what is meant by texture? Think of burlap vs silk: burlap has huge holes compared to silk.  Does the story leave out details, gaps for the reader to fill in?  That makes it a burlap texture.  Silk is fine: all the details and info are filled in for you.  Victorian literature tends toward silk, modern lit toward burlap.

•    writer’s disposition to scene and narrative - how much given in scene, how much is expository

•    names of story – ordinary names are not notable, but functional, meaningful names indicate a kind of parable like meaning and determines the distance of characters from the reader

•    narrative distance: Does the narratorial voice feel intimate or distant/cold?

•    leitmotifs – colors and images (or even repeated words) returned to again and again usually highlight something significant in the story

•    does work recall other readings?

•    use biographical details only as supplement, not as substitute for reading text