Protocols of Reading

by Robert Scholes

Discussing a wide range of literary theory in a clear and accessible way, prize-winning author Robert Scholes here continues his ongoing construction of a humane semiotic approach to the problems of reading, writing, and teaching.  Taking the view that “all the world’s a text,” Scholes considers numerous texts from life and literature, including photographs, paintings, and television commercials as well as biographies and novels.
“A significant and thoughtful effort to think about the responsibilities of reading in the wake of deconstruction.”― Choice
Protocols of Reading is a personal, avuncular book, attractive in its common sense and brevity.”―Wendy Steiner, Times Literary Supplement
“A complex argument developed in delightful plain English, Protocols of Reading sees both textual fundamentalism and deconstructive debunking as needful opposites in an oscillation that Scholes labels nihilistic hermeneutics.  Fine-tuning this oscillation is what the humanistic enterprise is all about, he suggests; it is our key to the true connection between reading and ethics.”―Richard A. Lanham, University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Scholes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities at Brown University, is also the author of Textual Literary Theory and the Teaching of English ; Semiotics and Interpretation ; and Structuralism in An Introduction

Genres: Nonfiction, Theory

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Robert E. Scholes was an American literary critic and theorist. He is known for his ideas on fabulation and metafiction.

Reviews

[Aaron Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scholes can sometimes get distracted by someone he disagrees with (see his attacks on Fish in Textual Power that lead to some embarrassing wordplay and tedious ranting); in Protocols of Reading, despite the title coming from a Derrida quote, J. Hillis Miller is the recurring target. Scholes manages to stay on point for the most part, however, and performs some brilliant readings along the way, the topics of which include a Budweiser commercial, a Judy Garland performance, and some of Hiller’s writing on reading. This is the 5th book of Scholes that I have read; there is always something to learn from him, even if he sometimes forgets to tell the reader what that something is (what they should be focusing on or what the upshot is). I appreciate his accessibility, rigor, and passion—all of which feel more balanced than not in this volume.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wuih... smart explanations and argumentations!