Assignment 5

Paraphrasing and Quotation

1.
In Peter Barry’s article “Tackling Textuality - With Theory” (The use of English Volume 52, Number 1, autumn 2000), he explains how we usually interpret a text while reading it, by giving us a checklist. In this list, containing ten different points, one can read how we, without using theory, use so-called “close-reading”. By “close-reading” Barry means that we, by looking at different aspects in the text, merely focus within the text, when we also should look on the text’s connections outwards.

To illustrate how to not only focus on the text within, but also how it is connected to the surrounding, Barry uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 73. Barry gives examples of how words in the sonnet also work as clues and how they can give the reader a greater understanding for the whole context. One example he brings to the table is how the word “choirs” can have different meaning for different people. According to Barry, this word to some might mean the songs sung by birds, others might think of the historical background of this word instead; being deserted buildings. Due to the fact that just one word can give several meanings to a text, Barry urges us to also look outwards from the text.

Barry continues to emphasize the importance of literary theory by showing us four text principles. He means that these show us how a text is in relation to the world. As an example, Barry mentions the question “what are the signs in this poem that it is written by a man rather than a woman?” He continues by explaining how we by just looking at words recognize if the character in the text is of male or female gender – this principle he calls “literature and gender”. His three other principles are “literature and history” which was mentioned earlier by the example of the word “choirs”, “literature and language” – patterns in a text that are logical and guessed, and “literature and psychoanalysis” – how we as readers use different mental processes while reading.

2.
In the text, I think there are some phrases and words that should be quoted directly, since many of them are hard to rephrase because they already are perfectly phrased. If we take the check-list as an example, these are short and consist, which makes it no point in rephrasing them. They give the amount of information that is needed without being too long.

Barry also uses words as “close-reading”, “narrativist” and “deconstruction” these are words containing certain meanings, which are hard to exchange. If a phrase or word is “concise and striking”, what is the point in changing it?

3.
Peter Barry’s article was very interesting to me. It shows how easy it is to forget about our surrounding influence on a text, and how easy it is only to focus on what is within. After reading the text several times, I felt that Barry’s examples from the poems and the sonnet gave me a greater knowledge of how just a little word or phase can have so many different meanings. To be honest, the text seemed to me very overpowering in the beginning, being so long, with many different aspects. However, after reading it the second and third time it became much clearer and interesting.

As for the structure and the flow in the text, I think it is good. It starts by giving some background and a short presentation of the following text. This gave me as a reader an understanding for what the text was about. Although the text contains many long and hard sentences and words, I felt that these were necessary to the whole context. And, by reading them piece by piece, I understood them. Barry did not only use long and complex sentences and words, he also brought many short and concise phrases and principles which were easy to understand e.g. his ten points showing how we as readers concentrate on what’s within a text. To sum everything up, I think Barry’s article is intriguing and easy to follow.