Notes on How to Read Literature Like a Professor

This page will provide notes and connections based on the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor. All of the deeper ideas here are from the mind and pen of Thomas C. Foster. I have paraphrased these on this page and provided some quotes. If I have forgotten quotation marks in places, it is not an attempt to plagiarize...as stated, these ideas come from Thomas C. Foster. He should get all the credit, and you should all purchase his book to have at the ready as you dive into your college years. 

Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)

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 Things to remember...A quest consists of:

1. a quester
2. a place to go
3. a stated reason to go there
4. challenges and trials en route
5. a real reason to go there

Applying this to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:

1. Oskar
2. the place where the key fits
3. to find the answer to the mystery that Oskar's father's untimely death has left him
4. numerous...such as finding the right Black, having the wrong Blacks slam doors in his face, sneaking and keeping secrets from his mother
5. Not sure yet...only halfway through the novel...but it will be some form of self-knowledge.

Notice how the telling of Oskar's story moves away from the key and its purpose for much of the story. Why? Because it's not about finding what the key fits. It's about Oskar finding out about himself. I believe you'll find the same to be true about The Story of Edgar Sawtell. They are both quest stories, but that's not all that they are...

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

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When people eat or drink together, it's communion. Communion or eating together is an act of sharing and peace. Oskar's sharing of snacks and a drink with Abby Black provide peace for her in the wake of her husband's demanding cries. Oskar is a breath of fresh air for her. You eat/share meals with people you are comfortable with. Oddly, Abby becomes comfortable with Oskar during the course of their interaction. By eating together, two (or more) characters form a community. What community is formed in this example? 

You can often tell how characters are getting along or not getting along based on their behavior during the communion/sharing of food...and sometimes the outcome of the communion is negative. So the questions that you should ask when you see a meal/food/drink being shared in a novel: What are the characters sharing besides the meal/food/drink, and does the sharing provide a positive or negative experience?

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

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Vampires are more than just vampires...they can stand for "selfishness, exploitation, and a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people." The vampire genre is also about sex, body shame, lust, seduction, temptation and danger. 

Ghosts also have more to them than just being ghosts, which will be something to think about as you read The Story of Edgar Sawtell. Ghosts often come to characters to point something out that is amiss or some wrongdoing that's taking place. The ghost may be there to teach a moral lesson, as well. 

Essentials of Vampire Stories:

• an older male figure, attractive in some way, who represents values that are corrupt or outdated
• young, virginal female (or at least innocent)
• the male needs a life force to help him continue his own life force
• the young woman is destroyed or dies

To sum up, vampires are exploiters with extremely selfish motives. As for the ghosts, when thinking of The Story of Edgar Sawtell, try to discern what the ghost's purpose is besides just being a ghost to haunt Edgar.

If It's Square, It's a Sonnet

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The easiest way to recognize that a poem is a sonnet is to count the lines once you've recognized the geometric shape of the poem. Sonnets are square...kind of. A sonnet has 14 lines and is almost always written using iambic pentameter. This means that each line will have (approximately) ten syllables...and ten syllables are about as long as fourteen lines are high...which will make the poem appear to be square(ish).

Good advice here: Read the poem first before worrying about form and rhyme scheme. Not doing this is like reading the ending of a novel before reading the novel...you ruin the magic.

A sonnet has two units of meaning that are closely related, and there is a shift  (a line break or other change in the poem) that demarks this shift from the first meaning of the poem to the second. This shift typically takes place after the eighth line. The Petrarchan sonnet (also known as the Italian sonnet) is made up of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). The Shakespearean sonnet (also known as the English sonnet) is made up of three quatrains (four lines each) and a rhyming couplet at the end. No matter which of these two forms you are looking at, the shift nearly always takes place after line 8.

One way to start working on a sonnet is to look at how many sentences there are in the poem. If a poem is good, its basic unit of meaning is usually a sentence. A poem is arranged in lines, but it is written in sentences. (Note: This doesn't apply to all poems, of course, but it is still a solid guideline to work from.) Most often, when it comes to sonnets, line eight will be the  ending to a sentence.

The sonnet form itself, if done well, will be a part of the meaning of the poem. While on one hand form is separate from the content of the poem, form can also provide added meaning to the poem.

Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?

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There is no completely original work of literature. Authors often use characters or situations from previous works of literature to enhance their own stories. One of the main purposes of this is that it takes the story deeper...it demands more of the reader. The surface story may be very good, but the use of the reader's prior knowledge of literature or cultural history will make the good story excellent due to the addition of depth. The big idea here is that "stories grow out of other stories." The more stories you have read, the more you will be able to recognize it when another story uses an earlier story to add depth to the work of literature.

So what does this mean for your reading? Well, if you miss the reference to the previous work, no big deal...hopefully, the story is strong enough to carry on without your knowledge of the connection. Anything you do notice will be a bonus, though, adding to your full understanding and appreciation of the work. Once you do notice something that seems familiar and can identify where it comes from, work backwards to see if you can make more connections to that work. You will also be able to continue reading with a new focus. Now you're not just reading the story on the pages in front of you...you're going deeper and learning to appreciate the work even more.

The term used to describe this phenomenon is "intertextuality." Intertextual reading brings depth and enrichment and multiple layers of meaning to the text.

Our two summer novels have connections to previous works, but you haven't read them yet. That's where I come in...you haven't read everything necessary to easily recognize intertextuality, and I haven't read everything either. But I have read more. The Story of Edgar Sawtell will align with The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has many things in common with Catcher in the Rye, and the references to the bombing of Dresden align with Kurt Vonnegut's version of that bombing in his novel Slaughterhouse Five. The last book we will read this school year, A Prayer for Owen Meany, can be aligned with a few books that you have already read if you have taken previous honors courses.

So the long and short of it is this: If you think you recognize a connection between what you are reading and something you've read before, see if you can find further connections to that work. If you don't see any connections to other works, wait for your teacher or professor to show you, then investigate further on your own.

This intertextuality is one of the things that makes a story more than just a story...it is one of several things that helps make a good story more than just a good story...it creates literature.

When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare

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See? I must have been reading ahead when I looked for the picture for the last chapter...

As you can see, Shakespeare's works are adapted a lot...The Lion King is like The Tragedy of Hamlet, and Ten Things I Hate About You is like The Taming of the Shrew. So what is significant about all of these reworkings of the plays? His quotes are everywhere, and even if you haven't read one of this plays, chances are you've heard some of the lines from his plays. 

Shakespeare is important to you, the reader, because he is so important to the writers you're reading. Writers often use quotes from things they've read or heard, and more writers seem to have read Shakespeare than anything else. Shakespeare is a part of America's shared culture...in fact, he is a part of the world's cultural knowledge. It is read in all four years of high school here in Bedford, and that is pretty much true for every American high school. Shakespeare texts are sacred -- they are a part of our cultural psyche. This intertextual relationship between modern works and Shakespeare's plays opens up a conversations between the two works. The new writers, though, have their own agendas and they usually put their own slants on the stories that Shakespeare made famous. 

Shakespeare's stories are great stories. They have strong characters and wonderful language. This is what draws writers to use Shakespearean works as part of their own stories. The key for you, as a reader, is to first recognize the reference...this will align your thinking with the modern writer who has written the work that references Shakespeare. Once you recognize it, it is then your job to see where the two works align and where they diverge. This will give depth to the new story and a deeper meaning for you to take away from the modern work.

...Or the Bible

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As I will probably point out many times during the course of the year, if you are planning on becoming an English major in college, it is imperative that you read the Bible and study it. You don't have to believe its contents, but you must know them. Why? Because writers know the Bible, and they use it quite often in their works. Why? Because it is the most read book in the world, and if you want to tap into intertextuality with your readers, the text of the Bible will get you the most bang for your buck.

Some keys to tip you off include the title of the work or the names of characters in the work. If you recognize that the title or the characters have Biblical connections, you should then look for more parallels. As stated by Foster, "If I hear something going on in a text that seems to be beyond the scope of the story's or poem's immediate dimensions, if it resonates outside itself, I start looking for allusions to older and bigger texts."

The end of this chapter is really the key...the answer to the question "So what?" Foster states that "depth is what the biblical dimension adds...the story resonates with the richness of distant antecedents, with the power of accumulated myth...[it] becomes timeless and archetypal, speaking of the tensions and difficulties that exist always and everywhere." There is no new story under the sun, and most stories we know are rooted in Biblical stories...so keep an eye out for them in modern works.

Hanseldee and Greteldum

Source: http://storytimeforme.com

The "literary canon" is basically a list of the novels or authors who are chosen as being worthy of study in college courses...Hemingway, Woolfe, Shakespeare, etc. Most of these works are older, even when they are considered "modern" in literary terms. While the older works usually use allusions to mythology or the Bible, newer works tend to move away from that. This is due to the fact that today's reader is less likely to have read the Bible or have studied mythology. Allusions are still in today's more modern work, but they tend to have more modern allusions that will appeal to more readers in the modern world. 

Kiddie lit is a common way for writers to hit upon a commonly shared allusion. Foster holds that Hansel and Gretel is the most common allusion in modern literature. Writers often take our knowledge of the works that are alluded to and turn that knowledge upside down. Writers generally use only small pieces of the stories, sometimes barely noticeable to the undiscerning eye, and drop them into their works. These allusions can do several things, such as adding depth and texture to the story, flushing out the theme of the work, or creating irony within the work. It's kind of like seasoning a stew...just a pinch of seasoning is thrown in, but it makes a world of difference to the taste of the stew. 

If you notice a similarity to an old tale or story from your childhood, focus on the corresponding elements of the two works. Prior texts (the phrase that professors use) inform our current reading. Once you get the characters, story, and idea of a work, start looking for pieces that are a bit familiar. Then ask why the author may have used this bit of a prior text. What is he/she trying to accomplish by using this allusion?

The main point of this chapter is that an allusion doesn't have to be from the canon, so be alert to anything that sounds like something you've read before. If used well, Dr. Seuss can be just as powerful an allusion as Shakespeare.

It's All Greek to Me

Source: http://smu.edu

Mythology was as important a religious belief  as Christianity is to its followers today. Remember that when dealing with mythology. Also remember that one need not believe the myth to understand it and place importance on it. As Foster says, whether or not you believe in Adam and Eve is immaterial in literature class, but it remains a great story of beginnings and falls. 

As long as the story is recognizable to the reader(s), the allusions to mythology will add meaning and style to the reading experience. Myth is "the ability of story to explain ourselves to ourselves in ways that physics, philosophy, mathematics, and chemistry [can't]." As Foster so clearly states, "Myth is a body of story that matters."

What does myth do in literature? Well, for one, it provides, "overt subject matter for poems and paintings and operas and novels." These works can be based entirely on a story from mythology or a character from mythology, god or mortal. 

Sometimes a modern story can be grafted onto a mythological story that has a similar plot, with characters in the modern story taking the names of characters from the myth. 

How has the myth of Odysseus maintained its staying power all these years? "Homer gives us four great struggles of the human being: with nature, with the divine, with other humans, and with ourselves. What is there, after all, against which we need to prove ourselves but these four things?" 

"There is, in fact, no form of dysfunctional family or no personal disintegration of character for which there is not a Greek or Roman model." 

When reading literature, recognition of myths we know "makes our experience of literature richer, deeper, more meaningful, so that our own modern stories also matter, also share in the power of myth."