Hi,

        I'm trying to find out about the different ways in which American
colleges have tried to teach close reading, especially about the English
program at Amherst College directed by Theodore Baird, G. Armour Craig and
William Pritchard, and the Hum 6 course at Harvard organized by Reuben
Brower and taught by (among many interesting others) Richard Poirier, Paul
De Man, Anne Ferry and  David Kalstone. I've been reading the few things
I've found about the programs--

Brower's, "Slow Reading" in _In Defense of Reading_
the last chapter of Poirier's _Poetry and Pragmatism_
De Man's piece, "The Return to Philology"

and would greatly appreciate any tips regarding other sources. Even better,
I'd love to hear from anyone willing to talk about what it was like to be a
teacher or a student in these programs--or in others that were specifically
designed to teach close reading. (I realize that the term can mean a lot of
different things--these differences would be worth finding out about as
well.)

You could e-mail me directly, or, if you think the group might be
interested, post back publicly.

Thanks a bunch,

Dan