Article Title
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The archetypal reading featured in Joseph Albrecht's article encouraged me to pursue the somewhat specialized reading I offer below. When I began my second reading of Henry James's short story "The Figure in the Carpet,” the notion of Vanity seemed to me to be very strong in the text. Midway through the first reading, I had suspected that no Figure would be given. Still, as a consequence of the standard a-priori assumption, I could not accept the frustration of closure. The construction I ultimately produced satisfied my own need for a "tight" reading. This result represents, I think, a dedicated attempt at a final assimilation of the text and also reflects a projection onto the text of some personalized schema, particularly those regarding man-made myths, their usefulness, and, above all, our obsession with them.
Publication Date
1987
Journal Title
Draftings In
Volume
2
Issue
1
First Page
12
Last Page
23
Copyright
©1987 by the Board of Student Publications, University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Powell, David
(1987)
"The Idol in the Carpet,"
Draftings In: Vol. 2:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/draftings/vol2/iss1/6
Comments
No cover/title page date shown on piece.