To be honest, I’m not a critical reading. If I could tell u that I have just entered new subject in this semester, and it would be about literary research. Well, it is probably not a good starting point, but I must say that to be deal with research in literary, we should become a critical reader, how could we analysis the text with certain theory if we are not knowing what we are actually read?
Since I become a literature student, I already knew famous author (Jane Austen, Robert Cormier, Shakespeare, Earnest Hemmingway, Alice Seabold,,, and whosoever..) Honestly, during my duty as become literature student, I just knew that actually there is something that we should consider first to be bear with literature. There are criteria which could be approximately measure what we should say as literary text, or in another word, measurement to be called a text which has value as literature.
All right then, you must be not understand what was I talking about..
Simply, to become a critical reader we must define our purpose first, reading all kinds of books, particularly literature one. There is called efferent reading which means we read in purposing to get information from what we have read, secondly is aesthetic reading which means to get involved in aesthetic experience on a text. (Mustafa, Bacharudin). As a matter of fact, it is still unrealistically I read still in the level of efferent reading or McCormick says a conventional one, reading just in purposing understand a plot, character, point of view and theme. Whereas, critical reading means we (reader) do not fully accept what we have read, to be saying again… I (literature student who are not really a fond of lit) is demanded to be think hardest than usual. Sometimes I flash back to time when I have to choose between linguistic or literature and I choose something which I didn’t familiar with, which is literature. How dare me yaa…?? Hahaha…
Although, in fact I have curiosity in knowing literature, and now I’m not upset with it, it was my choice consequences, whatever that hard, just go ahead, I’m sure I can do it…!
The first step to become critical reader is understanding what text actually said to you, then find what information which implied on the text, further, reader should questioning hidden meaning which contained on the text, for instance the author purposes of writing, ideology, through familiar with those are we demanded a knowledge about discourse and intertexuality which literary say that text can’t be stand alone, it should be influenced from other texts. Then questioning and correlating what texts are implied. And last, critical reader usually has her own framework to analyze one text.
Well, that is it. Probably, it won’t become a matter if you are already a critical one, whereas me, my self have to deal stronger with it. Okay, just keep exercise your critical thinking, and be a good critical reader!! J
