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

by Thomas C. Foster

Characters are products of writers’ imaginations—and readers’ imaginations. Two powerful forces come together to make a literary character.

Overtly political writing can be one-dimensional, simplistic, reductionist, preachy, dull.

in an ironic work we watch characters struggle futilely with forces we might be able to overcome.

irony works because the audience understands something that eludes one or more of the characters.

Your reading should be fun. We only call them literary works. Really, though, it’s all a form of play. So play, Dear Reader, play.