Textual annotations are notes in the margins of a text (they’re also called marginalia). They serve many functions, depending upon their context. They can be exegetical, drawing out meanings and interpretations. They can highlight points of confusion or mark moments of clarity. They can focus on a book’s history, noting variations that occur in different editions. They can record your own idiosyncratic response to a text—for example, quotations and passages from the text the reader wishes to collect and remember, and put in dialogue with one another.

Given that there’s a lot happening on any single page of the reading these first few weeks, it’s an ideal opportunity for marginalia. This investigation asks you to make massive notes on a two-page spread of one text and then make sense of what you’ve noted.

The text is Julia Kristeva’s “Approaching Abjection” from The Monster Theory Reader (2020), pages 95–106.

Step 1: Annotation

Select a two-page spread from the Kristeva excerpt—one that strikes you as especially substantial or especially confusing—and heavily annotate it by hand on a printed copy. Think of this as free association rather than argument-building: comment on individual words, passages, patterns, and references. If Kristeva names a term or figure you don’t recognize, look it up and note what you find.

Step 2: Meta-Annotation

Return to your annotated pages and add a second layer of notes in a different-colored ink. This layer is informal commentary on your own first-layer annotations: What were you noticing? What ideas are emerging now that weren’t visible on the first pass?

Step 3: Discussion

Instead of a written reflection, you’ll meet one-on-one with your section leader to talk through your annotations. The goal of the conversation is to notice what you notice—to identify the patterns in how you read and mark a text, and to begin making some sense of them: what they reveal about the passage, about Kristeva’s argument, and about you as a reader.

Submitting

You’ll submit two documents to Moodle in order to complete this assignment:

1. A clear and legible photo or scan of the annotations
2. A clear and legible photo or scan of the second layer of annotations (these might be combined with #1)

These are due on Moodle by the end of the day Tuesday, September 8.

Then, bring both layers of annotation to the meeting with your section leader. Expect these meetings to be 15-20 minutes long. Your section leader will arrange your meeting times.

This assignment will be graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis, depending on the submitting the annotations on time and the quality of your discussion with your section leader.