Andre Aciman Preliminary Interpretation
Order Description
Exercise 3.2 – Preliminary Interpretation and Rationale
The goal of this exercise is to help you develop an initial interpretation of the work of your
essayist, drawing on multiple sources. Your interpretation will most likely change as you work on
your essay, but you need to begin with a working idea of the question that is motivating your
thinking as you explore the work of your essayist as well as a sense of what you might say about
your primary texts.
Due on Thursday, 4/7 by 8:00PM

Assignment: Write a 2.5 page interpretation (double-spaced) of your primary texts.
Approaches (as you draft)
• Identify at least 2 meaty passages from each of the essays you want to work with (you may use
your Anthology to help you). At this point, they may or may not seem connected.
• Do some freewriting, reflecting on what interests you in those passages – what do you find
especially compelling or problematic? Try for a short paragraph about each passage.
• Then add another layer of reflection: how do these passages relate to the key problem or question
explored by the author in each text? How might they relate to one another?
• End your interpretation with a reflection on a possible topic (or set of topics) that may interest you
in the set of essays you have chosen.