On Close Readings by Peter Rabinowitz

In Peter Rabinowitz's "On Close Readings", he argues that close reading rests on faulty assumptions about how literature is read which can lead to faulty prescriptions about how it ought to be read. Rabinowitz believes that there are variety of ways to read and the way one reads varies. I agree with him when he says, "Different authors, different genres, different periods, different cultures expect readers to approach texts in different ways". He also believes that once you give priority to close reading, you favor figurative writing over realistic writing, indirect expression over direct expression, deep meaning over surface meaning, form over content, and the elite over the popular.