The Meaning of Reading (prompt #5)
The experience of reading is different for each person and constantly changes as they grow and develop a more adult taste in books. After exploring Foster’s idea of the reading process in How To Read Literature Like a Professor, the most significant ideas seem to be the idea of a “quest”, that all characters are stemmed from other characters, and reading through the eyes of the character and not your own eyes. Each of these processes increase the amount of living a reader does while reading, they also help the reader understand exactly where the significant parts of the story are and how they have a deep seated effect on the characters, but most importantly these ideas help the reader to see who the author is and why he/she wrote the book they did. The philosophical underpinnings of Foster’s book about books, is that everything has a meaning, no word, setting, meal, or character is there without a purpose and a meaning that is not typically displayed directly. Foster’s basis for which he wrote the book seemed to be so each reader would never read a book the same way they used to, he took it slow, chapter by chapter and explained the significance of season and how Shakespeare was in the structure of all writing.
Being “literate” means that someone can read a book and not just read the words on a page, they must have the ability to understand it is more than just a story, they do not have to have all the answers as to why the author wrote what he wrote, they just have to know a book is more than just words. Reading is a little less complicated, to read a person simply must read and understand what the author is saying directly, to read the reader must feel something from the book, they must have an emotional connection with it, but reading does not require the understanding of symbolism. A person can begin to read at 6 years-old and love a book, however they do not have the ability to understand that there might be a larger meaning to “The Magic Tree House” than just a treehouse that travels them into the books inside of it. Reading relates to “being human” because reading is wrote by humans, authors have human feelings and real-life issues that they can then translate into their writing to help them deal with life. Whether it’s a book about zombies, or a 1920s love story there is always a human connection. From this book I will carry many ideas about symbolism and structure that I will remember while reading, but most important I will carry a new curiosity about books. I’ve always loved reading but now I will be able to see things in a different way that I never did before and I thank Foster for giving me that.
By Cady Lewis
This is a really interesting way to look at one of the most important, overarching messages within this book. Right now I am taking a class at GHA on Frankenstein, and our teacher, Adam Booth, is really adamant in getting us to recognize the parallels between certain stories, but also in how each analysis of an author's work is different and beautiful, and is interdependent within the reader's skill level, but also the relationship between reader and author that is always different, because people are different. Furthermore, and interesting thing to think about is that all writers were readers at one point, and those writings are ALWAYS going to be influenced by outside information and writing styles that are in literature published before the new author's book. That's why I love this book so much; it's that it shows us how stories are influenced and stem from the same backgrounds, and in what ways we are able to analyze them because of this and because of the material each individual reader has encountered.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the way you introduced your blog. You did well including examples from "How To Read Literature Like A Professor" such as the "quest" concept readers interact with, and the way we should read through the character's eyes and not our own. Using these strategies can help readers understand a piece of writing clearly, and you succeed in pointing that out in your blog. It was smart that you used outside examples, such as "The Magic Tree House", to make your message of there being larger meanings clear. By reading your blog, it helped me understand the different parts of literature better.
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