About Deep Readings
A deep reading is a project that focuses on understanding the meaning of a text by closely examining its details. Texts can be literary or artistic or can take the form of informational graphics. While digital deep readings lend themselves to texts that include a visual component (be that a textual illustration, a painting, a photograph, etc.), I hope interdisciplinary scholars can use this site to create deep readings within their fields of study. Examples of deep readings might include:
- paying attention to how the details of a painting or sculpture tell us the story of its context or reveal a new meaning
- exploring how a set of images or allusions in a poem help us to understand its context or reveal a new meaning
- unpacking the specific implications of a data visualization
The Deep Readings site is a Boston College Digital Humanities project aimed at creating a collection of digital close reading exhibits.
If you are interested in creating a Deep Reading to be added to this site:
- check out the documentation page which tells you how to navigate choosing content, and how to create your own Exhibit.So project
If you wish to see examples and inspiration for your own Deep Readings, follow these links:
This site was initially established by Catherine Enwright, a PhD Candidate at Boston College in English Literature. During the summer of 2022, I was a Digital Humanities intern through the Boston College Institute of the Liberal Arts, and created the Deep Readings site as my summer project. I am the author of the first deep reading on this site, which considers Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" through the lens of Gustav Doré, David Jones, and John Livingstone Lowe.