Critical reading and the fantasy of method

This article emerges from the “Reading at University Project,” which has collected material from academics and students in Denmark and the UK about their reading habits, practices, and time use. Building upon previous studies on time use in the university, this project specifically investigates the interconnected issues of when and why reading happens in the humanities today. While researchers in all disciplines read as part of their profession, it is in subjects such as English, History, Philosophy that it is the absolute key to the successful production and transmission of knowledge. Our qualitative approach has allowed us to examine the reading that underpins the production of literary criticism, the present-day processes and stages that make any method or approach possible. Importantly, I argue, such a qualitative study of reading brings much needed detail and nuance to the so-called “method wars” and discussions of the profession of literary criticism.