Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html About How to Read Literature Like a Professor “A smart, accessible, and thoroughly satisfying examination of what it means to read a work of literature. Guess what? It isn’t all that hard when you have a knowledgeable guide to show you the way. Dante had his Virgil; for everyone else, there is Thomas Foster.” —Nicholas A. Basbanes, author of Patience & Fortitude 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. “Tom Foster’s casual, unpretentious, yet brilliant How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a painless introduction to crucial—and sophisticated—skills of reading. What a knowledge of modern literature! What good stories!” —Linda Wagner-Martin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of Sylvia Plath: A Literary Life Quill An Imprint ofHarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.com Cover design by Eric Fuentecilla Page 1 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Praise for How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster “I know of no other book that so vividly conveys what it’s like to study with a great literature professor. In a work that is both down-to-earth and rich in insight, Thomas Foster goes far toward breaking down the wall that has long divided the academic and the common reader.” —-James Shapiro, Columbia University, author of Shakespeare and the Jews “By bringing his eminent scholarship to bear in doses measured for the common reader or occasional student, Professor Foster has done us all a generous turn. The trained eye, the tuned ear, the intellect possessed of simple ciphers bring the literary arts alive. For those who’ve ever wondered what Dr. Williams saw in ‘a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water’—here is an essential text.” —Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking How to Read Literature Like a Professor A Broad Overview of Literature • A lively and entertaining guide to making your reading experience more rewarding and fun. • Focuses on literary basics: major themes and motifs (seasons, quests, food, politics, geography, weather, vampires, violence, illness, and many more); literary models (Shakespeare’s plays, Greek mythology, fairy tales, the Bible); and narrative devices (form, irony, plot, and symbol, among others). • Draws on a huge variety of examples from all genres: novels, short stories, plays, poems, movies, song lyrics, and cartoons. • Encourages readers to test their knowledge on the short story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, offering comments and ideas along the way. Based on Twenty-five Years of Experience and Expertise • Thomas C. Foster has been teaching students how to read literature for more than twenty-five years. • How to Read Literature Like a Professorapproaches the often intimidating domain of literature in accessible and non-academic prose. It is not a textbook but an engaging companion for readers to discover the possibilities of modern and classic literature. Page 2 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The Perfect Resource for Reading Groups • With its informal style and easy approach to literature, How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a useful and practical tool for reading groups and book clubs. Suggests Further Reading Material • Includes a comprehensive list of novels, poems, and plays that readers may find enjoyable and challenging. • Offers suggestions for secondary sources on reading, interpretation, and criticism. About the Author THOMASC. FOSTERis a professor of English at the University of Michigan at Flint, where he teaches classic and contemporary fiction, drama, and poetry, as well as creative writing and composition. He is the author of several books on twentieth-century British and Irish fiction and poetry. He lives in East Lansing, Michigan. Publication Information Page 3 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Contents Introduction – How’d He Do That? 1 – Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) 2 – Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion 3 – Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires 4 – If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet 5 – Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before? 6 – When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare . 7 – . Or the Bible 8 – Hanseldee and Greteldum 9 – It’s Greek to Me 10 – It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow Interlude – Does He Mean That? 11 – . More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence 12 – Is That a Symbol? 13 – It’s All Political 14 – Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too 15 – Flights of Fancy 16 – It’s All About Sex . 17 – . Except Sex 18 – If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism 19 – Geography Matters . 20 – . So Does Season Interlude – One Story 21 – Marked for Greatness 22 – He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know 23 – It’s Never Just Heart Disease . 24 – . And Rarely Just Illness 25 – Don’t Read with Your Eyes 26 – Is He Serious? And Other Ironies 27 – A Test Case What does the story signify? How does it signify? Birds and Flight Envoi Appendix – Reading List Primary Works Fairy Tales We Can’t Live Without Movies to Read Secondary Sources Master Class Acknowledgments Index Publication Information About How to Read Literature Like a Professor About the Author Copyright Notice eBook Version Notes Page 4 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Copyright Notice The excerpts from James Joyce’s “The Dead” are reprinted from Dubliners, The Modern Library, 1969. Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party” is reprinted from The Garden Party and Other Stories, Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. The excerpt from Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” is reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. The excerpt from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Ltd. HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR. Copyright © 2003 by Thomas C. Foster. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. FIRST EDITION Designed by Sarah Maya Gubkin Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Page 5 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Foster, Thomas C. How to read literature like a professor : a lively and entertaining guide to reading between the lines / Thomas C. Foster.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-06-000942-X 1. Literature—Explication. 2. Books and reading. 3. Criticism. 4. Literature—History and criticism. I. Title. PN45.F585 2003 808—dc21 2002031783 04 05 06 07 10 9 8 How to Read Literature Like a Professor 1 – Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) p. 1OKAY, SO HERE’S THE DEAL: let’s say, purely hypothetically, you’re reading a book about an average sixteen-year-old kid in the summer of 1968. The kid—let’s call him Kip—who hopes his acne clears up before he gets drafted, is on his way to the A&P. His bike is a one-speed with a coaster brake and therefore deeply humiliating, and riding it to run an errand for his mother makes it even worse. Along the way he has a couple of disturbing experiences, including a minorly unpleasant encounter with a German shepherd, topped off in the supermarket parking lot where he sees the girl of his dreams, Karen, laughing and horsing around in Tony Vauxhall’s brand-new Barracuda. Now Kip hates Tony already because he has a name like Vauxhall and not like Smith, which Kip thinks is prettyp. 2lame as a name to Page 6 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html follow Kip, and because the ’Cuda is bright green and goes approximately the speed of light, and also because Tony has never had to work a day in his life. So Karen, who is laughing and having a great time, turns and sees Kip, who has recently asked her out, and she keeps laughing. (She could stop laughing and it wouldn’t matter to us, since we’re considering this structurally. In the story we’re inventing here, though, she keeps laughing.) Kip goes on into the store to buy the loaf of Wonder Bread that his mother told him to pick up, and as he reaches for the bread, he decides right then and there to lie about his age to the Marine recruiter even though it means going to Vietnam, because nothing will ever happen for him in this one-horse burg where the only thing that matters is how much money your old man has.