Translational Close Reading

The problem with many recent close reading methods is their excessive reliance on extrinsic practices. If we are to follow Jameson's methodology we set ourselves up to read into the text with our ideological precondition, an act the I.A. Richards warned against with the onset of New Criticism. In focusing on a particular interpretive procedure, that of analyzing the narration of metaphorical translation, we would be able to simultaneously historicize the given text while also considering the intention of the author. This method depends upon the breaking down of the modes of translation (idiomatic or literal) in contrast to aspects of Jameson's work. Unlike the political UNconscious, an understanding of moments in which characters relied upon idiomatic rather than literal interpretation would reveal something of the Political Conscious. As Marcus relies on what is on the surface of the text rather than what is absent, this method of dissecting the narration of translational processes could reveal how a character's modes of interpretation/performance correlate with those of the time. For example, Fanny's dependence (as the most moral character) on the literal in contrast to Sir Thomas' dependence (as the most "proprietous" character) on the idiomatic enables interpretation on varying degrees and levels, rather than only what is absent/unconscious. For we can understand the characters themselves in terms of their adherence to the necessity of dependence on idiom, we can say something regarding the mores of the time of setting/composition via what the characters feel needs to be idiom-ized, and we can hypothesize about the author's views on propriety/cultural morality by checking which characters are successful and correlating this success with their method of translation.