how to read literature like a professor

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

By: Lamar Butler

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

• Holy Communion within a religion.– The Body– The Blood– The sense of unity

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

•“Sometimes a meal is just a meal” …. (Foster 7)

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

• But, when a meal is shared it is communion.• Act of peace• Will usually only be done with people you

consider friends

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

• In literature…– Demonstrates the relationship of characters• Sexual• Animosity • Respect• Tension

• What if it fails?– Bad sign

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

•“Not all eating that happens in literature is friendly.” (Foster 15)

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

• Vampires in literature….– Dracula– Twilight

• Other things that go “bump” in the night..– Ghost– Werewolves– Zombies– doppelgängers

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

• Below the surface..– The darkness within humans• Selfishness• Exploitation• Disrespect of human body• A deep hunger…

– Warnings

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

• Even within the text the meaning is still totally

based on you…. The Reader

Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

• Things won’t always appear as what we may expect– “Daisy Miller”(1878)– Women in Love (1920)

Works Cited

• Foster, Thomas C.. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 2003. Print