The visiting scholar for the end of the NEH institute is Stephen Booth, the only one of the scholars to have his own Wikipedia article (several of the others are mentioned or cited, however). Ralph refers to Stephen as the world's best close reader, and it may not be far from the truth. We spent the second session today listening to him read, I kid you not, Go Dog. Go! Once "like normal people read it," and once the way that Stephen Booth reads it. And it probably taught me more about critical analysis than any class I've ever had. Startling insights such as the fact that the book is not thematically about dogs, but about trees, hats, and wheels. Dogs matter about as much as plot does to Shakespeare - it's just there to hold the good stuff together. Best day ever.

"Go Dog. Go! is the closest thing I have ever found to a map of what is beautiful. It means just what it says it means. There are these dogs, see..."
--Stephen Booth

OFFICIAL NOTICE: The Fortune Cookie Game has new rules, and you should be using them. Today's fortune is, "Try it, you may like it [except in bed]."