Assignment task:
Think about the aims of Formalism and New Criticism, these schools' approaches to textual analysis.
Wallace's essay seems to suggest the limits to Formalist "close reading," a kind of textual analysis that obeys the intentional fallacy (i.e., ignores author and authorial history). But that doesn't mean there aren't instances where a close reading--looking only at the text's language and devices--isn't the best reading!
What are your thoughts on these aims (Formalism's and New Criticism's) and the implications of the intentional fallacy?