Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> At 04:23 PM 11/25/2009, Chuck Grimes wrote:
>
> >Berube falls into the same problem as WBM in that he argues from the basis of
> >what was or wasn't going on in the novel (The Great Gatsby)....This
> >approach uses the fiction as a
> >social document.
>
> Imagine reading Shakespeare that way. You'd miss almost everything
> good about it.
Any approach whatever, or any combination of approaches, "leaves something out," whether one is reading Shakespeare or Little Orphan Annie. No approach need claim that it includes anything.
My point is that you have proclaimed a somewhat banal truism.
I once had a lot of fun in an Introduction to Literature course in spending a couple periods explring what was implied by the existence of the particular physical text (a Norton Classic) we were using for Bleak House. Clearly that left a hell of a lot out, but it also led to quite a few interesting perspectives on the text.
Carroo