approaches
a literary approach Ð reading into the work (author, genre, style, character, motivation
 plot É)

anthropology and cultural location

historical and social context

intellectual context (eg philosophy, conceptions of what it is to be human É)

archaeology and a sensitivity to materiality

a comparative perspective Ð
not (necessarily) the assertion of identity
but frictions generating insight

and one that uses the work as a resource in exploring the cultural imaginary
- where does the work take us?