Ever wonder why every road trip seems more like a quest? Why those people seem share something when they eat together? Why those poems all look like sonnets?
In How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster carves out age-old interpretation concepts for the beginning-intermediate reader’s marbled mind. Though it does not compare in scope, style, quality, or breadth to On Writing, I would recommend Foster’s book to any Literature 101 class with the same tenacity I use referring Stephen King’s book to Writing 101 classes merely for its concise economy of words and concepts. I’ll highlight some of my favorite chapters:
Every trip is a quest (except when it’s not)
“Wade? Can you go to the grocery store to get me a loaf of bread?” Every trip starts out this way. A hero, a task, and a destination. Halfway through, however, we tend o me a villain of some sort hurting an innocent. The Hero comes to a decision point, and that moment defines his character. Often the quest is not about the loaf of bread, the holy grail, the Sorcerer’s Stone. Instead, we find that the Hero must face both external opposition and internal struggle. Only when he deals with these can he go on and become the true version of himself we have waited to see. Of course, maybe (if it’s short enough) he’s just going to the grocery store to get bread.
Nice to eat with you: Acts of communion
My friend Mark Moore has a soap box. “Only humans eat together. Something spiritual happens when they do.” Because of this, when you see a meal in a movie or a piece of literature, it’s communion. What do you think if, in the middle of dinner, a guest comes to join the table, and someone leaves the table saying “I’m not hungry anymore” ? I’ll tell you what you’re not thinking, “Wow, they must be the best of friends!” Meals reveal relationships, either in unity or war..
It’s more than just rain or snow
Many Americans will walk outside at night and raise their hands to heaven if it’s raining. Know why?
The Shawshank Redemption. At the climactic scene, Andy Dufrane escapes Shawskank and we hear Morgan Freeman’s voice, “Andy Dufrane – who crawled through a river of s**t and came out the other side clean.” Andy crawled through a mile of sewage, landed in a river, and raised his hands up to heaven while the rain washed it all, all of his bad husbandry, all of the false accusations, all of the sexual and physical abuse of prison, all of the lies, all of the deceit, all of the hatred away. You cannot tell me rain doesn’t mean something. If you honestly think so, go watch Shawshank again and try not to get chills. I got ‘em writing this part.
I could keep going but I want you to buy the book. Most of what literary interpreters do is simple. They just look for clues and try to get at what the author is trying to say.
- Lancelot
