How to Read Literature Like a Professor

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Thomas Foster opens up a new world of literature, drawing from some of the world's greatest classics to explore what literature is, what it means to us, and how we can understand it. It's a fun and entertaining introduction for students and book lovers alike. Foster's light-witty style makes for easy reading. It reminds me of a gathering together of old literature friends, where we discuss books and writing.

How'd He Do That?

Some students think there must be some well-kept secret to understanding literature. Either that, or teachers must be making up all this stuff about theme and symbol. There couldn't be that much to a book after all: symbols, important images, connections between this book and others.

Of course, literature professors don't make this stuff up. Professors and other readers only see symbols and archetypes because they are there. They are not hidden, not really. You just have to have eyes to see, and those literature goggles are developed through years of reading. And, it's not just any reading. We must read Shakespeare, Homer, Aristotle, Twain, Chekhov, Milton, and all of the other literary greats. We grow in our literary skills as we use them.

Oh the Places We Go--The People We See!

If Tom Jones is going on a journey, he must be following a quest, especially if he has a place to go, a reason to go, challenges, trials, and a \"real reason\" for his journey. And, if the character seems familiar, he or she probably is based on a character we've seen in literature before. The idea for the story is really not a new idea: that no book is really original, that all literature is based on previous patterns, archetypes and recurrences. There's only one story with millions of permutations, which means readers continue to meet the same old friends, whether it's a female character who's remarkably like Ophelia or Anna Karenina...or an old man who reminds you of King Lear...or a young lad who reminds you of Huck Finn.

We don't always see the connections: the recurrences of characters and themes through different stories. When we begin to notice those threads, we may feel a sort of \"aha! factor.\" We've discovered a long-lost friend.


So, when it seems like there's a connection, it's probably there. Foster writes, \"The more we become aware of the possibility that our text is speaking to other texts, the more similarities and correspondences we begin to notice, and the more alive the text becomes.\"

In this \"engaging, thought-provoking, maddening, fun\" book, Foster explores the greatest works in literature. Imagine the entertainment of it all: beauty, fun, and so much more!