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| Author: Thomas C. Foster
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $9.86
You Save: $4.09 (29%)
Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 3789
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 006000942X
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9780060009427
Publication Date: March 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Eh December 16, 2004
7 out of 36 found this review helpful
I had to read this for AP English IV this summer. I like to read, so I don't judge books just because they're for school. However, if they are terrible, than they are terrible and it doesn't matter why I am reading them. I didn't like this book. Most of my class felt like he was very repetitive and didn't say much of anything that you shouldn't already know if you're in AP English. But that was just our take on it.
A Cram Course in how to read literature May 13, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I might have picked an alternative title for this book, like "How To Read Literature," which takes the focus away from the academic sounding title and places it more in the works themselves. Once upon a time, people who were 'serious' about writing shared a particular set of 'texts in their heads.' They were usually the Bible, medieval literature, Greek tragedies, and so forth. This became a sort of 'code' that literary people could encode and decode through reading stories, poems, epics, and the like. The nice thing about the 'codes' (unlike the DaVinci Code) was that they were aesthetically pleasing, i.e., they were enjoyed for their imagery, character, setting, tone, development, ironies, and so forth. Thomas Foster provides a crash course in learning about these codes like the hero code, the saviour code, the sacrificial code, the morse code (only kidding), and so forth. The code was more thoroughly 'codified' by Northrup Frye back in the 50's & 60's, but getting people to read any of his major books instead of this one would be like giving most people a choice between reading War & Peace or watching an episode of the 'Sopranos'. So, sure you can learn to read like a particular type of college professor from the instructions in this book, but this partly misses the point. At one time, these ideas, principles, codes, etc., MEANT something to people. People really believed in them and considered them. Nowadays, such code catching has come down quite frequently to outdoing someone in coming up with the most decodings, or we should say "recoding" because you can't really decode something since you have to express it into another code, right? Otherwise, you'd just have silence or a blank page, and Sam Beckett even made those things into codes. The book has a light-hearted tone and intelligentlly written, but learning this stuff without finding meaning in it would be like wearing a crucifix around your neck because you thought it had nice symmetry. Hey, that's ok, but then all you end up with is an object. Now if you are--or your professors ar--into post-modernism b.s., you will probably learn that these codes are just a lot of obfuscation and arbitrary to boot, and, so, for example, Jesus on the Cross doesn't mean anything except that some guy is in deep sh_t, but that's probably covered in some other book.
 Insightful and Entertaining August 20, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is like a key that helps you unlock the mysteries contained in literary works. It's easy to read and full of insights and helps you dissect the many meanings in literature. My only criticism is that the book is too short. I hope Dr Foster is working on volume two.
Lucid intro to reading fiction more deeply November 29, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is an unpretentious introduction to various aspects of reading literature deeply, and on more than just a superficial level. I used to read stories mainly for the surface events, but since reading this book I am seeing symbolism everywhere in what I read. If you love fiction, it only enhances reading pleasure to see more levels of meaning in a story. The book can also help writers add more depth to their own works.
I also appreciated the down to earth and unpretentious voice Foster uses; he never speaks down to his audience. I only hope he goes on to write a sequel.
Shakespeare was here..... July 5, 2004
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I wish I had had access to HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR for my Freshman English classes. Thomas C. Foster provides the reader with insights into those amazing points college professors and advanced placement English teachers make concerning classical texts such as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, THE SUN ALSO RISES, BELOVED, and the other standard works assigned to young students. The older reader will also appreciate his insights. You may even finally discover why certain works appeal to you while others don't, or why trashy novels don't fill the gap in your soul "good" books do. "It was a dark and stormy night..." So begins the never finished novel Snoopy has been developing on the top of his dog house for years. And so began (or similarly began) one of the great classics...WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Foster explains why the weather in a novel is a very important clue. Sunshine and clouds affect mood and the classical writers are adept at using atmospheric pressure to evoke mood. Foster explains that other literary devices have been used to effect mood, attitude, and feelings of commiseration ever since our forebears sat around the campfires and told each other entertaining tales. Shakespeare may have been original, but he was also a master of understanding what worked for other authors from whom he borrowed much. A number of great works written since Shakespeare use his devices including subtle references to the Bible and the Greek Classics. One wonders in an age not prone to studying the Bible as literature or Latin in high school, how much is lost. On the other hand, the study of Spanish (a Romance language) could prove quite important to speakers of English deprived of Latin classes. Don Quixote understood the importance of "the quest."
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