We could have simply titled this section “Close Reading”—but we carefully chose each word to offer a more detailed insight into what we mean by close reading.
“Reinterpreting”: interpreting as the work of making observations and weaving them together to tell a particular story; interpret-ing to emphasize this kind of storytelling as an ongoing process; re-interpreting to signal that, on a larger scale, different thinkers can offer different interpretations from all kinds of angles for the same work of art. “Art”: in this section of the Tortoise, the language of a play (Romeo and Juliet in Nikki’s paper), the carvings of a marble sculpture (The Gosford Wellhead in Olivia’s paper), the illustrative details of a figure depicted in a manuscript (The Rylands Haggadah in Tali’s paper), as three of countless possibilities. “Through close analysis”: a slow, careful approach to reinterpreting the work of art, zooming in to the details, being specific about the specific, drawing out meaningful implications, making connections across these details to show how they all come together in the work as a whole.
Each of the three writers walks us through a close analysis of their chosen work of art, often chosen out of personal fascination, and offers new ways of thinking about these pieces that have already been thought about before—just not in a way Nikki, Olivia, and Tali are uniquely perceiving. Their innovative interventions begin with their sharp eyes for noticing what interests them, which they then take the time to pause over, sit with, think through, and excitedly guide their readers to better understand—reinterpret, reimagine—the work of art alongside them.
— Grace Kim ‘25