Approaching a new text for study can be intimidating,
especially if this is the first time you’ve studied literature seriously, know
that knowledge and understanding of this novel is crucial for success in an
important exam, or are taking your studies to a new level, e.g. transitioning
from GCSE to A Level or starting degree level study.
Different people find different techniques suit them when it
comes to academic work, but below are a few suggestions on how to improve your
approach to literary study which you might find helpful.
1. Reading for flow: At secondary school we spent months ploughing
through set texts at a snail’s pace, doing exercises on each chapter and losing
all sight of novels as a mode of entertainment which is meant to be enjoyable.
My top tip is to read a new novel cover to cover before
attempting any ‘analysis’. That way you’ll be reading a text in the way it was
designed to read, duplicating the reading experience of the many others who
have read the novel previously and be in a better position to assess the
effects the writing has on you. You’ll find out which portions of a novel are
faster paced and make you want to keep reading and be able to appreciate
chapter and section breaks – whether they give you time to pause or make you
want to read on.
If you are reading a novel in a classroom setting, taking
the time to read ahead outside class is definitely not time wasted. You’ll gain
more from any discussion as a group if you already have a handle on plot and
some idea where the novel is going thematically.
2. Notes - theirs and
yours: One thing which can be detrimental to appreciating the flow of a text is
notes – note reading and note taking.
Many editions of Victorian novels, for instance Oxford World
Classics and Penguin Classics, – are equipped with really helpful and
informative endnotes, but taking up the time to flick back and read each one can
lead to your reading experience being disjointed, as the notes interrupt you,
sometimes mid-sentence. My rule of thumb is to avoid the temptation to read
every note just to feel studious, especially if you already understand a
reference in the text. Turn to the notes when your understanding is impaired.
For example, there may be quotes in another language or a reference to a famous
person, place or historical person unknown to you.
The type of notes I always avoid
at first reading are the ones which deal with textual changes and omissions.
These are often lengthy, reading them can confuse as you are trying to get to
know this version of the text first
and editors very often presume knowledge of the plot meaning these notes are
accompanied by explanations which include spoilers. Textual variation is a rich
field for study later but I’d say leave them for now and come back to them once
you’re better acquainted with the text.
Taking your own notes can also be unhelpful in some cases.
Use them only to aid your own reading experience – e.g. to keep track of
characters and their relationships to each other if they are proving confusing
(think Wuthering Heights) – or as a
helpful list of references to chase up later. So, if you read a line or passage
which makes you think of another novel, seems particularly interesting to you
or you know you’ll want to come back to later, take a note of the page number
with a brief one or two word reminder to yourself about why you want to
bookmark it. This is particularly useful if you are at a more advanced stage of
study, where you know you are looking at this text to explore a certain topic
or theme.
Don’t feel that if you’re not taking notes, you’re not
studying. You are. Writing ‘pathetic fallacy’ or ‘jealousy’ etc. in the margins
won’t help you at all and there’s no point writing notes you’ll never read
again.
3. Other resources: If you are still reading the text there’s
no point turning to literary criticism yet, or even to study guides – these will
come in later. But there are other resources which might help. If your
understanding is impaired, don’t just soldier on. Turn to search engines (or
good old dictionaries) to look up unfamiliar words. And if an historical event
or person is referenced in the text without a note, take the time to at least
read the first line of Wikipedia.
4. Introductions: Never read the introduction first. The blurb
will give you enough of an idea about what sort of novel it is that you’re
starting, while an introduction will a) spoil the plot for you, b) confuse by
referencing things you don’t know about yet and c) prejudice the way you read
the text. If a friend talked at length about a film you hadn’t seen, the
conversation wouldn’t be much fun and might even put you off going to the
cinema to see it. By the time you read the introduction you should be in a
position where your responses can be more conversational and critical – ‘I thought that too!’, ‘I hadn’t
thought about it that way’, ‘I’m not sure I agree with the editor on this’.
Introductions can be very helpful, especially for directing you towards
criticism, but avoid the temptation to start at page ‘i’ and turn straight to
page ‘1’.
In a follow up post, I’m going to be looking at what to do
once you have finished reading your text (including more detail on how
introductions can be helpful). In the meantime, if you have any questions or
tips on approaching novels for study, then let me know – in the comments below,
on Twitter (@SVictorianist), or on my Facebook page.
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