Prompt 1

By the "language of reading" and "grammar of literature," Foster means understanding all the textual connections on a deeper level insinuated by the author. There is reading, and there is understanding. Understanding is taking the reading to a closer level and analyzing the actual point. To truly speak the "language of reading," it is necessary to read and be knowledgeable on all sorts of books and ideas to make the deeper connections that could be easily overlooked. That is important for this type of discussion in the book because he is teaching how to read literature in the same manner as a professor would by tying the little pieces together to create the bigger picture to look at. A high level of intelligence is required to think of these bigger pictures and discover how it works. In chapter six, he discusses multiple situations where a character is similar to Jesus Christ or a Bible figure, but anyone lacking in Bible studies would have missed these connections thus missing the bigger picture. Even if the reader follows a different religion, it is good to be well-informed of other faiths for this purpose. Chapter twelve also discusses symbolism and how it is the reader’s imagination and the author’s combined. They each have their own creativity, but the author uses certain subjects to symbolize a deeper meaning, and the reader will pick up on that. To really "read like a professor" means to understand the hidden message the author puts in and use them to fully understand the author’s purpose.

Comments

  1. Mary Madeline GouldJuly 26, 2017 at 6:42 AM

    I like how you stressed the importance of background knowledge in this post. Foster's "How to Read Literature like a Professor”, certainly contains titles I do not know. There were a handful I do recognize, however, most I would not feel confident using if trying to enhance my understanding of Foster’s ideas. I also like Gavin’s comment because some of Foster’s references were book titles for our summer reading assignments . Although “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, and “Hamlet” were not completed at the time, I had read background information on these works. It was funny how I was able to understand Foster’s point a little more clearly just by knowing the general ideas within these stories. If I had already read them completely, I wonder how much more I would have gained from “How to Read Literature like a Professor”. This book forced me to realize an expansion of my library is necessary if I wish to grow as a reader and writer.

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