How to Read Literature Like

a ProfessorA summary of the book by Thomas Foster

“Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)”

A Quester

A Place to go

A stated reason for

going

Challenges and trials

A real reason to go there

“Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion”

“whenever people eat or drink together, it’s

communion.”

Sharing food is an act of

community

Eating is a mundane human

need, so why write about it?

“Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires”

•Attractive•Alluring•Dangerous•Mysterious•Focuses on beautiful, unmarried girls•Thrives on their vitality•They end up becoming like him

If it seems Biblical, it probably is…

• Garden of Eden• Serpent • Tree of Knowledge• Apple• Adam and Eve• Cain and Abel• Great Flood• Noah’s Ark• Abraham and Isaac• The Ten Commandments• The Ark of the Covenant• The plagues• The escape from Egypt

• Dove/lamb• Baptism• Communion• Last Supper• Sacrifice• #40• #7• Thirty pieces• Betrayed with a kiss• Cross/crucifixion• Resurrection• The four horsemen• The Antichrist

“weather is never just weather”

rain snow

fog sun

Violence: 1. provides action

2. causes plot complication3. ends plot complication

4. creates stress

Specific injury to characters

• Standard shootings, stabbings, poisonings, etc. for which the characters are guilty

Narrative violence• Death and suffering authors

introduce for plot advancement or thematic development (author is guilty, not characters)

“Is That a Symbol?”

YES

Identifying a Christ figure:• Crucified, wounds in the

hands/feet• Self-sacrificing• Good with children• Good with loaves, fishes, water,

wine• 33 years old• Employed as carpenter• Known to use humble modes of

transportation• Believed to have walked on

water

• Known to have spent time alone in the wilderness

• Believed to have had a confrontation with the devil (tempted)

• Last seen in the company of thieves

• Creator of many aphorisms and parables

• Buried, but arose on the third day• Had disciples (12 at first)• Very forgiving• Came to redeem an unworthy

world

If you are submerged in water and …

• …you don’t come back up, you die

• Your death is significant…see previous slides

• …you emerge from the water, you are reborn.

• But that doesn’t necessarily mean life is better

“when writers send characters south, it’s so they can run amok”

Low:• Swamps• Crowds• Fog• Darkness• Heat• People• Death• The underworld

High:• Snow• Purity• Thin air• Light• Clean views• Isolation• Life• Mount Olympus

The Four Seasons:

Spring = rebirth, resurrection, beginning, cleansing

Summer = vibrancy,

life, youth, passion

Fall = aging, ending, loss,

decay

Winter = death, paralysis, loss, barrenness

Outward appearances can be important to characterization!

Illness isn’t just illness:

1. Not all diseases are created equal

Thus, for a prime literary disease:

2. It should be picturesque3. It should be mysterious in origin4. It should have strong metaphorical possibility