How would an aesthetic criticism or reading of a work of literature look or sound like?I'm beginning a personal study of aesthetics, specifically...

To first begin to answer this question, one must be sure
to have a firm understanding of the terms
regarded.

Aesthetic can be defined in each of the following
ways: first, the appreciation of beauty; second, the principles guiding the work of an
artist.

In regards to an aesthetic reading, an aesthetic
reading is when a reader contemplates and appraises the techniques used by the author,
as well as the presentation of action.

The mode of reading
which offers a polar opposite of aesthetic reading is the efferent mode. When reading in
an efferent mode, the reader attempts to identify the facts of the text so as to put the
text into an informational structure. 

The difference
between the two modes is that one (efferent) looks at the facts and the other
(aesthetic) looks at the tone and emotive
qualities.

Therefore, if one were to present an efferent
reading on Frankenstein, the reader would present the facts from the text and be
concerned with those issues only.

Where as an aesthetic
reading to the same novel would be based upon the figurative language used inn the text
along with the emotive qualities presented by Victor, the Monster, and the
reader.