How to Read Literature Like a Professor Spark Notes
1-Sentence-Summary: How To Read Literature Like A Professor shows you how to get more than out of your reading, by educating yous about the nuts of classic literature and how authors utilise patterns, themes, memory and symbolism in their piece of work to evangelize their bulletin to y'all.
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I randomly came across How To Read Literature Like A Professor, and establish out information technology was really popular. I'd honey to help you read more and improve, and my gears are constantly churning how I tin help you do that (hit me upward if you want to hear my product ideas and so far). Summarizing this book is surely a adept start.
Thomas C. Foster is an English professor (surprise), and he uses many examples from classic books to prove you lot how you tin can unlock what yous read and figure out what lies beneath the bones level of the story. This book will not only make your reading more fun and more satisfying, you'll also be able to harness what your learn in a much more professional manner.
Here are iii lessons to help y'all main the craft of reading:
- Retention, symbols, and patterns are what hide the deeper message in any volume.
- One of the most common patterns is the quest structure.
- Look for universal messages in books to discover which symbols authors utilize.
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Lesson 1: Most books hibernate their bulletin using retention, symbols and patterns.
The majority of people falls into the category of shallow readers. When they read books, they but pay attention to the basic story level, but not much more. If you lot want to go beyond that and actuallyinterpret what y'all're reading, Foster says there are three things you need to watch out for.
- Retention. This has happened to you lot for sure. You've read a affiliate in a book and thought: "Wait, don't I know this scenario? Haven't I read well-nigh this before?" Clever readers don't brush off that gut reaction. Instead, they dwell on it and draw an actual comparison between what they merely read and how it'due south different from a similar book they've read in the by.
- Symbols. The scar on Harry Potter's forehead is much more than than just a scar. Its shape, the style information technology hurts, the visions he has because of information technology. It stands for much more than an blow, it's a symbol, and only if y'all can interpret it y'all'll become the full motion picture of the story.
- Patterns. Sometimes piddling and seemingly meaningless details pop upwards once again and again. Just like the story itself nigh oftentimes follows a blueprint, so do sure characters, items and even words people use. Authors frequently utilise patterns to communicate hidden messages.
Only spotting these and interpreting them correctly is hard, so let's look at two things you can practice to amend.
Lesson two: The quest construction is one of the most common patterns in literature.
One of the about universally practical structures in novels, which you can discover anywhere in life (fifty-fifty in your latest trip to the grocery store), is the quest structure. It'southward sometimes also called the hero's journey and it always contains the 5 following things:
- A quester
- A destination
- A stated reason to go
- Some challenges along the way
- An unexpected revelation
Take The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, for instance. Santiago, a shepherd, is the quester. His destination are the pyramids of Egypt. He says his reason to go is that he must observe his destiny and explore the vision from his dream (well-nigh a treasure in Arab republic of egypt). Of class he faces many challenges on his journeying, such every bit finding love, but having to leave it behind. At the stop, there's an unexpected revelation, showing Santiago that the treasure was right in front of him all forth.
But if you run out of breadstuff, and it becomes your reason to go to the grocery store, a destination, you lot get a quester too. A claiming might be to notice a parking spot, or arrive at the store earlier it closes. Eventually, you'll unexpectedly find you still have a loaf at habitation subsequently yous come back.
Encounter, information technology has all the elements of a quest, fifty-fifty though it's a very trivial scenario. Now yous tin pay attention and discover the quest structure in other books and events!
Lesson iii: Look for universal messages in books to find which symbols authors utilise.
Do yous sometimes experience like books are a rip-off? That they're merely blatantly copying from some other writer? Well, actually it'due south tough to observe a book thatdoesn't re-create from a previous one. In truth, no book is 100% original, whether the author knows he or she is copying, or not.
This phenomenon is called intertextuality – all texts depend on i another – and it's a good matter! When the same ideas appear again and again it turns them into symbols. You tin can then rely on interpreting them correctly, because the aforementioned symbol usually stands for the same idea.
For example, whenever a storm is seen on the horizon, this is usually a symbol for trouble lying ahead, whether in the form of an actual storm or a plot twist.
Often, the hero's home is destroyed, and he or she has to start all over. This is usually meant to show that even in destruction, at that place is a liberating ability.
Ask "What'south the universal message backside this effect?" as you read, and yous'll be able to spot symbols and some of the big ideas, which have been around for centuries.
Note: Another thing that helps you develop this skill is reading a wide diversity of books, especially classics, because these have popularized about of the symbols we use today.
How To Read Literature Like A Professor Review
I want more of this. More reading well-nigh reading. If reading a lot is good, then reading a lot about reading is great. Every tiny improvement you make in how you lot read will be with you for the rest of your life and therefore help you get more out ofevery next book you option up.
This is highly recommended. How To Read Literature Like A Professor is a great book and the summary on Blinkist is a very good starting point, with most of the big ideas explained well and plenty of examples.
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What else tin you learn from the blinks?
- Which questions aid yous get to the emotional level of a book
- What one bookall other books connect to
- How the Mississippi river is a symbol for more than one affair, in just one volume
- Why settings profoundly shape how we perceive a story (and what role seasons play in information technology)
- What makes irony one of the most powerful tools of an author
Who would I recommend the How To Read Literature Like A Professor summary to?
The 16 year old, who struggles with English language form, the 44 year old, who wants to become more out of his reading for his job, and anyone who's read their favorite book more once.
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This book has an boilerplate rating of 2.6 based on 9 votes.
Source: https://fourminutebooks.com/how-to-read-literature-like-a-professor-summary/
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