Download
1 / 15
E N D
Thomas C. Foster “ thing's for certain: after finishing HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR, you will either praise the author for opening your eyes to the pleasures of literary analysis, or curse him for making you think too much” (Ron Kaplan 1). Foster is a professor at the University of Flint in Michigan.
Active Reading “Memory. Symbol. Pattern. These are the three items that, more than any other, separate the professorial reader from the rest of the crowd," he offers. Just how can us regular-Joe readers recognize all these possibilities? "Same way you get to Carnegie Hall," Foster cracks. "Practice."
Quotes to Consider and Discuss “…one does well to remember that writing literature is an exercise of the imagination. And so is reading it” (123). • Who enjoys writing? • Who thinks writing is harder than reading? • Who thinks reading is harder than writing? • Your thoughts….
“The challenging thing about literature is finding answers, but equally important is recognizing what questions need to be asked, and if we pay attention, the text usually tells us” (203). Agree or Disagree… How do you think we should consider creating questions? How do we listen to responses?
Info on the Poster or Slideshow • Summary of the chapter (brief paragraph of about 100 words) • Different literary works from the chapter (at least 10) Use this site for help: Nelson, Marti. From How to Read Literature Like a Professor • Correlating to personal reading (This section must have an activity for the class.) • Terms and vocabulary words defined (at least 10 with hand outs for classmates) Send me a copy: tracy.krieger@stpsb.org
Summary Violence can be symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent. One can find two categories of violence in literature: Character caused—shootings, poisonings, bombings, etc. or death and suffering for which the characters are not responsible. Violence is symbolic action. Questions to ask: What does this type of misfortune represent thematically? What famous or mythic death does this one resemble? Why this sort of violence and not some other?
Literary Text from the Chapter • Beloved, Toni Morrison • Anna Karina, Tolstoy • Emma Bovary, James Lawrence • “Barn Burning” William Faulkner • “Old Curiosity Shop” Charles Dickens • To the Light House Virginia Woolf • Jocaste, Dido, Medea • Women in Love, Lawerence • Wile E. Coyote • The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
Correlation to personal reading "Out, Out - "by: Robert Frost The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yardAnd made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.And from there those that lifted eyes could countFive mountain ranges one behind the otherUnder the sunset far into Vermont.And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,As it ran light, or had to bear a load.And nothing happened: day was all but done.Call it a day, I wish they might have saidTo please the boy by giving him the half hourThat a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apronTo tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant,Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap - He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!Half in appeal, but half as if to keepThe life from spilling. Then the boy saw all - Since he was old enough to know, big boyDoing a man's work, though a child at heart - He saw all was spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off - The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"So. The hand was gone already.The doctor put him in the dark of ether.He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.And then - the watcher at his pulse took a fright.No one believed. They listened to his heart.Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since theyWere not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
Terms and Vocabulary • Epigraph: a quotation at the beginning of a book or section of a book, usually related to its theme; an inscription • Infanticide: the act of killing an infant • Implications: implied or involved as a natural consequence of something else • Elegy: a mournful or reflective poem • Gambit: a maneuver or stratagem used to secure an advantage; stratagem • Garroting: a weapon consisting of a wire or cord with handles, used in strangulation • Resonance: the effect of an event or work of art beyond its immediate or surface meaning; underlying meaning or an intense and prolonged sound produced by sympathetic vibration • Obfuscation: to make something obscure or unclear, especially by making it unnecessarily complicated • Antipathy: strong hostility or opposition toward somebody or something • Emanates: to come from or come out of somebody, something, or somewhere • Penchant: a strong liking, taste, or tendency for something
Work Cited “Angel of Death.” Photobucket.com. 3 July 2009 http://images.google.com/ Foster, Thomas. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper Collins, 2003. Kaplan, Ron. “Review Literary Criticism.” How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines. Bookreporter.com. 1 July 2009. The Book Report Network, New York, New York, 1996 - 2009. Nelson, Marti. From How to Read Literature Like a Professor. 3 July 2009. homepage.mac.com/mseffie
