<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">New Criticism is also appropriate because Wolfe, while primarily inspired by Borges, is also inspired by the Catholic English writing in the 1930's to the 1960's--Tolkien, Eliot, Pound, Tate, etc.-- Modernist-Traditionalist writers, a tradition in which I think Wolfe has a prominent place. The New Criticism was supposed to encourage and analyze this type of writing. "Meaning is reconstruction rather than deconstruction" is actually a beautiful little summary of why this is so. Remember that modernism is not postmodernism (although they are in close relation), and Wolfe is definitely a <i>modernist</i> writer.<div><br></div><div>R</div><div><br><div><div>On Apr 5, 2013, at 11:42 AM, Marc Aramini wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="auto"><div>I agree- new criticism (and historical criticism for valid context most of the time) are the most sound and applicable techniques.<br><br>I feel like the new critical approach would get the most out of Wolfe- meaning is reconstruction rather than deconstruction. For example, Reading e e cummings "anyone lived in a pretty how town" through that lens makes perfect sense, though words are used outside their normal parts of speech- meaning is reinforced rather than lost. Much of post modern thought is intentionally losing one self in a haze, getting trapped in the Cartesian circle with no egress in the absence of absolute parameters of signification. <br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Apr 5, 2013, at 8:07 AM, DAVID STOCKHOFF <<a href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">dstockhoff@verizon.net</a>> wrote:<br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; ">They have their own abstract methods, and while they try to make those methods concrete, they also make them inflexible and blind. </span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>I always liked New Criticism because I could get my mind around a "perfect" but "perfectly flawed" structure, where function transcends form. But the French guys always lost me at some point.<br></span></div><div><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <br></font></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div>_______________________________________________<br>Urth Mailing List<br>To post, write <a href="mailto:urth@urth.net">urth@urth.net</a><br>Subscription/information: <a href="http://www.urth.net">http://www.urth.net</a></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Ross Arlen Tieken</div><div>Religious Studies</div><div>Rice University</div><div><br></div></div></div></span></div></div></body></html>