Win How To Read Literature Like A Professor: A Lively And Entertaining Guide To Reading Between The Lines By Thomas C. Foster Shared As Electronic Format

Simply awesome. I'd recommend it for any student who has ever asked the eternal question after being assigned some obscure piece of literature in an English class "why the HELL DO I HAVE TO READ THIS!" Trust me.
Thomas C. Foster is your friend. He feels your pain. And he's here to help,

As an English major, I have an intense love for books, obviously, even the classic texts that even I find a little hopeless and empty at times.
But these essays help you to find the deeper meaning behind the words and point out the little hints and signs that you can look for in order to make sitelink Oroonoko or sitelink Mrs.
Dalloway seem a little less pointless,

Furthermore, even as an English major with an intense love for literature, I am also a teenager, and I am fully aware that not every student in the world particularly wants to spend time reading a book about.
. . books. But the thing with Foster is that he's funny, and he explains things with a rather dry sense of humor that I find simply wonderful.
It is a rare thing to find a scholar with a sense of humor about their discipline, Especially those scholars that are passionate enough to write books,

Informal, light, and truly fun to read, I read it in the span of one evening, so for a normal person read: nonbibliophile, I call them "puggles. " Like "Muggles," you know it would take about, . . a week How do puggles measure time

How did I get to this point in my review Anyway.
Read it. You won't regret it/

Ar po šios knygos pradėsite literatūrą skaityti kaip profesorius Na, gražu aišku apie save gerai galvoti, bet gal nereikia persistengti.
Ar bus įdomu ir naudinga Tikriausiai ne viskas, Ypač dalys, kurios ne amerikiečių mokykloje augintam nėra suprantamos, Ar juokinga Vietomis. Bet angliškai būtų juokingiau, kad ir koks puikus

ir profesionalus Laimanto Jonušio vertimas, Tikiu, kad knygą būtų kur kas įdomiau klausyti įskaitytą autoriaus, ar pateiktą video paskaitų forma, Skaitant, visgi, gerokai prailgsta, o ir toli gražu ne visi skyriai vienodai įdomūs, Na ir aišku, kaip smagu išgirsti mylimą dainą per radiją, taip ir čia įdomiausia skaityti analizes tų knygų, kurias ir pats esi skaitęs.
O apie kitas skaitant jausmas kaip žiūrint foto vestuvių, kuriose nebuvai,

Visgi, kad ne visi čia aprašomi kūriniai man yra skaityti ar girdėti mano išsilavinimo ir laiko stokos problema, ne autoriaus bėdos.
Reikia pripažinti: jo pateikiami pavyzdžiai pakankamai aiškūs belieka vietoj neskaitytosios knygos įlipinti tą, su kuria esi susipažinęs.
Žinoma, jei pajėgsi. Na, pavyzdžiui, skyriuje Taip, ji irgi Kristaus figūra" beje, skyrių pavadinimai puikūs, tik bajerius reikia pagauti dažnai tai aliuzijos į Amerikos pop kultūrą pati save džiugiai nustebinau, vietoje naudoto pavyzdžio įdėjusi Coetzee Nešlovę".
Buvo gera į mėgstamą kūrinį pažvelgti iš šios netikėtos perspektyvos, Tačiau dažnai pavyzdžiai prailgsta net autoriui suteikiant šiokį tokį siužetinį ir kultūrinį kontekstą, įdomiausiai ši knyga skaitosi tik tuo atveju, jei esi skaitęs kertinius jos kūrinius, ypač tuos, prie kurių T.
C. Fosteris vis sugrįžta. Tai, jog gana didelė dalis jų Lietuvoje nepastebėti pelnytai ar ne jau kitas klausimas, neatmetant ir autoriaus susikoncentravimo į Amerikos švietimo sistemos privalomąjį literatūros sąrašą byloja jų neegzistavimas lietuvių kalba nemažai tokių, kurie vertimo į lietuvių kalbą nesusilaukė, net būdami žanro klasikos atstovais.


Atsivertusi knygą nustebau, pamačiusi juokingai mažąvnt, tiražą ką, tik tiek Bet perskaičiusi suprantu tikriausiai maždaug tiek ir yra Lietuvoje tų, kurie iš tiesų šią knygą gali pilnavertiškai perskaityti.
Norėčiau tikėti, kad jų daugiau, bet optimizmas niekada nebuvo kertine mano charakterio savybe, o pasisukus leidybos virtuvėje sąraše smuko dar žemiau.
Ar knyga man atvėrė akis Nelabai bet už tai esu dėkinga savo literatūros dėstytojams, kurių turėjau ne vieną ir ne du.
O tiems, kuriems ne taip pasisekė, visgi atsiversti linkiu nebūtina skaityti ištisai, o ir pati savo lentynoje nepasiliksiu, bet įdomių vietų buvo ne viena ir ne dvi.
To pakako, kad nesikamuočiau, bet nėra gana, kad likčiau amžiams sužavėta,

If you read more than five books a year, you've already learned what Professor Foster has to teach.
And if you're like me, about halfway through you'll start asking yourself: Who wants to read literature like a professor Why would anyone want to read literature like a professor Isn't that a bit akin to learning how to have sex like the local prostitute "The main thing you have to remember here, Kiki, is to distance yourself from the act.
" Perhaps we should all go to watchmakers with our questions about Time, Coroners with our questions about Death

If you plan on dating, living with or marrying an English Lit professor, this book would be a fine primer on what he does with his day.
If you plan on being graded by an English Lit professor, this book would be a fine overview of her critical standard.
Barring these two eventualities

Read like yourself,


Thomas C, Foster image from his site

I have read more than a few books of this sort, This one stands above the crowd, While the material may not be particularly novel, it does pull together core truths about how literature can be understood, and communicates that information in a very accessible manner.
It has made a world of difference in my approach to reviewing, I made my teenagers read this, back when they were actually teenagers, Particularly for anyone who reviews books, this is a MUST READ!!!


First posted in


Foster's sitelinkpersonal site Summary: A great book for anyone who either loves literature or would like to be better able to unlock its secrets.


This was given to me by an expert in reading as a part of getting me up to speed on reading comprehension.
It explained so much in such a witty humorous way,

I love that it broke down the most common of things that a fictional novel is trying to say.
There are just so many tools and so many commonalities from book to book, I really had never thought of it,

PThis is the list of all the things that should relate to the story of christ, An excellent list, from agony to breadgiving, to children, etc, The number of bible reference from which much of English based fiction relates back to is huge!

P.
Don't read with your eyes speaks to the idea that you have to take on the character's point of view.
This is likely the hardest, It also reminds me that Fiction is about empathy,

From a more political perspective this book had many implications, First, it explained why reading comprehension, particularly of high literature, might be so unapproachable to many, The references likely are second nature to others as are the ways in which one might empathize with particular characters white, rich and christian.
It's not right or wrong, but it reminds me of why such a huge movement has happened to bring in more global literature.
чудова книжка від американського професора, яка допоможе упорядкувати вже знайомі способи читати зверне увагу на нові і несподівані штуки. мені було трошки важко через те, о пан Томас К. Фостер спеціалізується на американській літературі ХХ ст. , тож більшість творів, які він згадував, аби проілюструвати ту чи іншу тезу, були мені незнайомими. на щастя, він переказував сюжети, але мені було б точно цікавіше, аби я прочитала їх раніше. загалом у мене лишилися дуже приємні враження від книги. Reading for pleasure

I was fortunate to be born to booklovers and attend schools with many likeminded pupils, where excellent teachers nurtured our enthusiasm.
English literature was my favourite subject, and one I did well in, but when it was time for us, aged, to pick only three subjects for the two years before applying to university, I chose not to study English.
I wanted to read purely for pleasure: what and when I liked, without dissecting every word and punctuation mark and risk literally losing the plot, and without having to worry about the opinion of an unseen examiner.


I resisted gentle persuasion from parents and teachers, and still think it was the right decision, Nevertheless, I gradually became a less analytical reader, until I joined GoodReads in,

Better than it sounds!

Ignore the books clickbait title, which I assume was picked by the publishers sales team.
Nevertheless, if you want to read like a prof, this book may help, especially if you skim the chapter titles every time you read a novel but where's the joy in that.
It might also be useful for budding writers for plot and character ideas, rather than crafting prose,

I read this to refresh my critical and analytical abilities, Foster clearly wants people to enjoy stories: he explores “a grammar of literature” so readers acquire pattern recognition to better understand and appreciate what they read.


There areshort, chatty chapters, with one issue in each: “Every Trip Is a Quest Except When Its Not”, for example.
Throughout, he cites examples from the western literary canon, plus ancient Greece and a bit of China, with a skew to US classics.
Thats fair enough as Foster is a professor of English at the University of MichiganFlint, Even books Im unfamiliar with are given enough context that the point is clear,

It has a good reading list including a handful of movies to “read”, with a sentence or two about each, as well as an index.



Image: Grant Sniders eightcell comic, “Literary Devices” sitelinkSource,

The readers relationship with a book

The core message is enjoyment, enhanced by deeper understanding and awareness of connections and intertextuality the dialogue between old and new texts.
Most important is the storys journey from author, through their characters, to the reader, filtered by personal experience, I wouldnt call this collaboration, because its invariably a oneway process “choose your own adventure” books notwithstanding, inescapably so if the author is dead.
In the near future, that may change: its increasingly true for journalists, and even novelists and poets have far more interaction with their readers than they used to, on personal blogs, but especially on social media.


I think its hyperbole to claim that “Every work teaches us how to read it as we go along”, but Foster urges readers to trust their experience and their interpretation: “Use what you know” and “Own the books you read”.


There is no single, definitive interpretation of a symbol, character, or novel, not even Fosters, Discussion and disagreement are part of the pleasure of literary scholarship and GoodReads,

Symbolism

Discussing symbolism is obviously an important element of a book like this, and Foster asserts that everything is potentially symbolic: not just objects, but actions and events too.
Symbols are often culturally dependent, but can be useful shortcuts or clichés, He gives many examples, including: surviving disaster as rebirth, rivers for change or baptism, rock for stasis, the heart for love and disease, and a shared meal being a form of communion.
Whereas, in real life, violence is violence, in literature, it can be symbolic, literal, or both, and “accidents” are rarely accidental.


Irony is also a major theme: another case of things not being quite what they first seem, Even a story that isnt overly humorous may be full of irony, especially where potential symbols dont have the expected meaning.
He cites one of Oscar Wildes contrarian witticisms: Lady Bracknells observation that Lady Harburys “hair has turned quite gold from grief” after her husbands death, though the whole play is clearly and deliberately comic, so I think its rather different.


Important as they are, dont let symbols become a distraction from the story itself,


Image: “The curtains were blue, ” What the author meant versus what your English teacher thinks the author meant, sitelinkSource.


Time and place and character

A story must have a setting, so assume the location, culture, people, and period may be significant.


A very ordinary meal might be lavish for the circumstances, and thus laden with messages of sacrifice and generosity.


Until the twentieth century, the causes of disease were largely mysterious and the ailments characters had were often symbolic consumption was beautiful and blameless, syphilis the opposite, and heart trouble often mirrored twisted or failed romance.


Just as Hollywood had the selfcensoring sitelinkHays Code, abstractions and euphemism were long necessary in literature, giving plausible deniability for the author any offence is inferred by the reader though that didnt work for DH Lawrence.


Paraphrasing Aristotle, Foster says “Plot is character revealed in action” and that most literature with a capital L is characterbased.
Dont get so involved in an exciting plot that you overlook the most important thing a character can do to change.



Image: “The Treachery of Images” aka “This is not a pipe” by René Magritte.
See also what Freud probably didnt say, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”, sitelinkSource.

How many stories

Foster asserts, more than once, that “Theres only one story”, which is quite a claim.

“Its not about anything, Its about everything What the one story, the urstory, is about is ourselves, about what it means to be human.
”
Hmmmm. Im not convinced thats helpful, but I really must read, Christopher Bookers sitelinkThe Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, and maybe Foster should as well.


On firmer ground, he says:
“We want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity too.
”
The more we read, and think about what we read, the more familiarity we find, even in works that seem startlingly original.


“The writer we know better than any other even if we havent read him, is Shakespeare, ”
If a “story resonates with the richness of distant antecedents, with the power of accumulated myth” consider “allusions to older and bigger texts”, especially the Bard, the Bible, and fairytales, which are:
“Stories that are deeply ingrained in our group memory, that shape our culture and are in turn shaped by it.
”


Image: Homer saw four great conflicts: with nature, the divine, other humans, and ourselves.
Grant Snider expands that to nine to accommodate PoMo, but how will he incorporate a future where technology means the relationship between authors and readers can be truly collaborative, rather than conflicting sitelinkSource.


Envoi

This book reminded me to be a little more conscious of how stories are constructed and how they connect with other stories, while ensuring thats not at the expense of the joy that reading should bring.


Ultimately, there were not many “aha” moments, but enough “ah, yes” ones that Im glad I read it.
.