How to Read Literature Like a Professor

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Essay Questions

  1. 1

    Discuss the possible implications of Christian and Biblical imagery to a literary work, and the importance of such imagery to literary analysis.

    Possible implications could include continuation of historic traditions, relationship to our past, time and its progression. It would also certainly suggest Divinity and sanctity, spirituality, our beholdenness to Fate. The Bible as a work of authority is also used in literature to lend authority to the text and the story. From a literary point of view it is important because of the prevailing influence of Christianity and monotheism in Western culture (there could other reasons as well).

  2. 2

    Describe the complexities of the relationship between setting and character.

    A good answer would not only point to ways in which complexity is created because of the non-linear relationship between character and setting - humans affect places as much as places affect us - but also describe ways in which this occurs. Thus, the answer could consider how geography can play a role in developing character's motives or else personality, such as through inspiring a desire to escape. At the same time, human actions and their significance can be understood through a study of nature and surroundings such as the polluted lanscape's indication of modernization and industrialization.

  3. 3

    Name at least two canonical works that are among the most often cited/reproduced (according to Foster), and give examples of how different forms that references to these works can take.

    One of the collections widely known is that of Shakespearean plays and sonnets, whilst another could be Greek mythology (or the Bible). Writers have often used Shakespearean characters as archetypes almost as a way of highlighting their own character's personality traits - reference to Hamlet for instance might convey a particular figure's inability to act or else famililial issues. Dialogue from Shakespearean plays and sonnets also abound in literature as well as popular culture - phrases such as "All the world's a stage" that have achieved immense popularity because of their universal quality and commentary on human existence. Similarly, Greek mythological stories have been modified throughout the centuries, with themes as popular as mother-son relationships, narcissm, and so forth. Greek names continue to be used often as a means of indicating personality traits/archetypes (Homer, Oedipia, etc.)

  4. 4

    Identify at least three theories regarding of literary analysis.

    These could include reader-response theory, which considers the reader's response to the text and his/her ascription of meaning to the work; deconstruction, an approach that considers the work to be a product of various social, historic, political and macro factors rather than an independent production of the writer; and finally, intertextuality, which sees literary works as engaging in dialogue with one another (references and parallels with other stories in a particular work of fiction).

  5. 5

    Which skills does Foster think need to be developed in order for one to become a better reader and student of literature?

    A good answer will consider the complexity of the question as well as answer - what precisely makes a "good" reader/student? Literature is a complex field as is reading itself; although Foster does identify specific practices early on such as pattern recognition, memory, and ability to read symbolically, the relationship between reader and text is never straightforward. Other important considerations include contextualizing, considering the author's position and perspective, re-reading works as well. There is no definitive answer here, responses also depend largely on your own views on what literature and reading should be like. Whilst it is okay to take a specific stance, you must defend it well.