false 39933 006000942X 9780060009427 885 204 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169340277m/39933.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39933.How_to_Read_Literature_Like_a_Professor_A_Lively_and_Entertaining_Guide_to_Reading_Between_the_Lines 11550 Thomas C. Foster 1021 248 4 5 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 01 07:05:44 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 15 12:01:14 -0800 2007
An avid reader (of both pulp and literature, in roughly equal measure) who never took a college literature class, I've always known I was not getting all I could from my reading. After reading this book, I know I am much better equipped. Just finished my second read of Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go", and was amazed at how much deeper I could see into it now. Thank you, T. Foster!!

This book serves as a great introduction to some common symbolism to watch out for when reading good lit. It also introduces the reader to the phenomenon of
"intertextuality" - where an author presents something in such a way that it raises echoes of a separate text in your mind. (A rather blatant example would be the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?", which is based on Homer's Odyssey.) The author presents many examples. A good minority of them were familiar too me, and the rest, rather than being annoying, were enough to make me salivate in the contemplation of checking out these texts for myself.

The style is conversational, and the auther, an English lit professor after all, admits to his foibles and pretensions in such a likeable and approachable way that the pages fly by. After applying what I've learned a little, I'll definitely be re-reading this text to absorb even more, and widen my horizons even further. ]]>