How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines Features

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What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey?. Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface -- a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character -- and there's that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you.

In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun.

What Customers Say About How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines:

This is an. informative book. It's written in a very informational way, but it's also very boring. It's something that you can read in short spurts, but trying to read it cover to cover MAY fry your brain.

I have used Foster's text with great results in my AP classes, and with no small measure of success in my college prep. I have been teaching English Literature at the secondary level for many years, and this is one of the texts that, since the first time I read it, has become a "must read" for my students. While the broad scope of the author's literary allusion may escape many students (and teachers,) his concise explanations and easy to understand analysis make it easy for those who DON'T read literature often (read: most teenagers)to see the web of similarities that connects story to story, symbol to symbol. classes as well. I strongly recommend this book to anyone that wants to see text the way those of us in front of the classroom do.Why Are All the Good Teachers Crazy.

Foster opens up the eyes of the most literal readers. His ideas help the struggling reader to understand that there is so much more to literature than words on a page. Each chapter offers enlightenment involving author's intent and masters how to fearlessly approach literature from a critical and analytical perspective.

A great introduction to analyzing literature for the avid reader who doesn't want to take college courses. Easy to read; often humorous.

This book is an excellent tool in aiding high school ap students with literary analysis. It is enjoyed by teacher and students alike.