How To Read Literature Like a Professor

How To Read Literature Like a Professor

Frankenstein Review

Mrs. Harbison

Frankenstein Review

Mrs. Harbison

Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)

Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)

• A Quest consists of 5 things:– A quester

– A place to go

– A stated reason to go there

– Challenges and trials en route

– A real reason to go there

• A Quest consists of 5 things:– A quester

– A place to go

– A stated reason to go there

– Challenges and trials en route

– A real reason to go there

• The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason

• Usually, the quester fails at the stated task

• The real reason for a quest is always Self-Knowledge

• The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason

• Usually, the quester fails at the stated task

• The real reason for a quest is always Self-Knowledge

...Or the Bible...Or the Bible

• Loss of innocence…..The Fall

• Adam and Eve

• Satan

• Forbidden Fruit

• Ecclesiastes = for every time there is a season

• Names matter

• Proverbs

• Loss of innocence…..The Fall

• Adam and Eve

• Satan

• Forbidden Fruit

• Ecclesiastes = for every time there is a season

• Names matter

• Proverbs

• But I don’t know the Bible….

• Resonance Test

• If something’s going on that’s beyond the scope of the story’s or poem’s immediate dimensions, if it resonates outside itself, look for allusions to older and bigger texts

• Biblical dimension = depth to the story, timelessness, and archetypes

• But I don’t know the Bible….

• Resonance Test

• If something’s going on that’s beyond the scope of the story’s or poem’s immediate dimensions, if it resonates outside itself, look for allusions to older and bigger texts

• Biblical dimension = depth to the story, timelessness, and archetypes

It’s Greek to MeIt’s Greek to Me• Shaping and sustaining power of story

and symbol

• Myth is a body of story that matters

• Greek and Roman myths

• Icarus and Daedalus

• Arachne

• Atalanta

• Jason, Hercules, Theseus, and Perseus, Odysseus

• Shaping and sustaining power of story and symbol

• Myth is a body of story that matters

• Greek and Roman myths

• Icarus and Daedalus

• Arachne

• Atalanta

• Jason, Hercules, Theseus, and Perseus, Odysseus

• Medea

• The Minotaur and the Labrynth

• The Fates

• Muses

• Medusa

• Pan

• Charon/The River Styx

• Elysian Fields/Tartarus

• Medea

• The Minotaur and the Labrynth

• The Fates

• Muses

• Medusa

• Pan

• Charon/The River Styx

• Elysian Fields/Tartarus

• The gods: Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Athena (Minerva), Apollo (Helios), Artemis (Diana/Luna), Hepahestus (Vulcan), Aphrodite (Venus), Ares (Mars), Dionysus (Baccus), Posiodon (Neptune), Hades (Pluto), Hermes (Mercury), Hestia (Vesta), Persephone (Proserpina), Demeter (Ceres)

• The gods: Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Athena (Minerva), Apollo (Helios), Artemis (Diana/Luna), Hepahestus (Vulcan), Aphrodite (Venus), Ares (Mars), Dionysus (Baccus), Posiodon (Neptune), Hades (Pluto), Hermes (Mercury), Hestia (Vesta), Persephone (Proserpina), Demeter (Ceres)

It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow

It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow

• Setting, it’s true – but that’s not all

• It’s never just rain/snow/sun/warmth/cold/sleet

• The Flood

• Drowning = one of our deepest fears

• Rain = memories of myths

• Atmosphere and Mood

• Setting, it’s true – but that’s not all

• It’s never just rain/snow/sun/warmth/cold/sleet

• The Flood

• Drowning = one of our deepest fears

• Rain = memories of myths

• Atmosphere and Mood

• Plot device – forces people together in confined spaces

• More mysterious, murkier, more isolating than any other weather conditions

• Misery factor

• It’s clean and dirty – a paradox

• Symbolic cleansing

• Restorative (association with Spring and Noah)

• Plot device – forces people together in confined spaces

• More mysterious, murkier, more isolating than any other weather conditions

• Misery factor

• It’s clean and dirty – a paradox

• Symbolic cleansing

• Restorative (association with Spring and Noah)

• As a restorative, generally used ironically

• Rain = principal element of Spring

• Spring = season of renewal, hope, new awakenings

• Mixes with sun to make rainbows (Noah again)

• Fog = confusion

• Snow = anything (clean, severe, warm, inhospitable, playful, suffocating

• As a restorative, generally used ironically

• Rain = principal element of Spring

• Spring = season of renewal, hope, new awakenings

• Mixes with sun to make rainbows (Noah again)

• Fog = confusion

• Snow = anything (clean, severe, warm, inhospitable, playful, suffocating

…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence

…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence

• Violence = one of the most personal and intimate acts between human beings

• Cultural and Societal implications

• Symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent

• Balanced (physics)

• Violence = one of the most personal and intimate acts between human beings

• Cultural and Societal implications

• Symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent

• Balanced (physics)

• Violence in literature = literal and usually means something else

• Encodes a broader point about the hostile/essentially uncaring relationship we have with the universe

• Everywhere in literature

• 2 categories: specific injury (characters do to each other) and narrative violence (causes characters harm in general)

• Violence in literature = literal and usually means something else

• Encodes a broader point about the hostile/essentially uncaring relationship we have with the universe

• Everywhere in literature

• 2 categories: specific injury (characters do to each other) and narrative violence (causes characters harm in general)

• Authorial Violence = death and suffering introduced in the interest of plot advancement or thematic development

• Writers kill of characters to:– Make action happen– Cause plot complications– End plot complications– Put other characters under stress

• Authorial Violence = death and suffering introduced in the interest of plot advancement or thematic development

• Writers kill of characters to:– Make action happen– Cause plot complications– End plot complications– Put other characters under stress

• Violence = a symbolic action

• Accidents happen in real life – in literature, accidents are no accident

• Nearly impossible to generalize about meanings

• No easy, cut-and-paste answers, but ask the following questions:– What does it represent thematically?– What famous mythic death does it resemble?– Why this sort of violence and not some other?

• Violence = a symbolic action

• Accidents happen in real life – in literature, accidents are no accident

• Nearly impossible to generalize about meanings

• No easy, cut-and-paste answers, but ask the following questions:– What does it represent thematically?– What famous mythic death does it resemble?– Why this sort of violence and not some other?

Is That a Symbol?Is That a Symbol?• Yes, it is

• What does it mean? What does it stand for?

• What do YOU think?

• Symbols don’t necessarily mean one thing only (ok, some do, but most don’t)

• Yes, it is

• What does it mean? What does it stand for?

• What do YOU think?

• Symbols don’t necessarily mean one thing only (ok, some do, but most don’t)

• If a symbol can stand for only one thing, then it’s not a symbol – it’s an allegory

• Symbols involve a range of possible meanings and interpretations

• Symbols depend upon how we engage the text

• Each reader is unique, bringing our individual history to the table

• If a symbol can stand for only one thing, then it’s not a symbol – it’s an allegory

• Symbols involve a range of possible meanings and interpretations

• Symbols depend upon how we engage the text

• Each reader is unique, bringing our individual history to the table

• Readers expect symbols to be objects and images only

• Events and/or actions can be symbols too

• So how do we figure out symbols?– Break down the text– Ask questions of the text

• What’s the writer doing with this image/object/act?

• What possibilities are suggested?

• What does it feel like it’s doing?

• Readers expect symbols to be objects and images only

• Events and/or actions can be symbols too

• So how do we figure out symbols?– Break down the text– Ask questions of the text

• What’s the writer doing with this image/object/act?

• What possibilities are suggested?

• What does it feel like it’s doing?

• Reading literature = highly intellectual activity

• Also involves affect and instinct

• READING LITERATURE IS AN ACTION, ALIVE AND FLUID!

• Reading is an event of the imagination

• The act of one creative intelligence engaging another

• Reading literature = highly intellectual activity

• Also involves affect and instinct

• READING LITERATURE IS AN ACTION, ALIVE AND FLUID!

• Reading is an event of the imagination

• The act of one creative intelligence engaging another

Geography MattersGeography Matters• What does it mean….

– Where a character goes– Where a character dies– Where the location of the action is

• What does geography mean to a work of literature?

• Frequently…….everything

• What does it mean….– Where a character goes– Where a character dies– Where the location of the action is

• What does geography mean to a work of literature?

• Frequently…….everything

• So what is geography?– Literal– People

• Literary geography– Humans inhabiting spaces– And the spaces that inhabit humans

• Geography is setting– Psychological, attitude, finance, industry– Anything that place can forge in the people

who live there

• So what is geography?– Literal– People

• Literary geography– Humans inhabiting spaces– And the spaces that inhabit humans

• Geography is setting– Psychological, attitude, finance, industry– Anything that place can forge in the people

who live there

• Can be revelatory of literary elements– Theme– Symbol– Plot

• Can define or develop character

• Can be character

• Play a specific plot role

• A general rule: when writer’s send characters south, it’s so they can run amok

• Can be revelatory of literary elements– Theme– Symbol– Plot

• Can define or develop character

• Can be character

• Play a specific plot role

• A general rule: when writer’s send characters south, it’s so they can run amok

• Hills and valleys have their own logic– Up and down– High and low

• Not matter where – places matter

• It’s not just setting– It’s place, space, and shape– Giving us psychology, history, and dynamism

• Hills and valleys have their own logic– Up and down– High and low

• Not matter where – places matter

• It’s not just setting– It’s place, space, and shape– Giving us psychology, history, and dynamism

…So Does Season…So Does Season• I’m skipping this one – you already

know what I’m going to say.

• And if you don’t, refer back to chapter 10 and rain.

• I’m skipping this one – you already know what I’m going to say.

• And if you don’t, refer back to chapter 10 and rain.

Don’t Read With Your EyesDon’t Read With Your Eyes• Don’t read only from your own fixed

position

• Find a reading perspective that– Allows for sympathy with the historical

moment of the story– Understands the text as having been written

against it’s own social, historical, cultural, and personal background

• Don’t read only from your own fixed position

• Find a reading perspective that– Allows for sympathy with the historical

moment of the story– Understands the text as having been written

against it’s own social, historical, cultural, and personal background

• Professional reading = danger

• Deconstruction

• Pushes skepticism and doubt to extremes

• Questions everything in a story or poem

• Goal of deconstruction is to see how the work is controlled and reduced by the values and prejudices of its time

• Professional reading = danger

• Deconstruction

• Pushes skepticism and doubt to extremes

• Questions everything in a story or poem

• Goal of deconstruction is to see how the work is controlled and reduced by the values and prejudices of its time

DANGER!!!!!!!

Deconstruction can take away or enjoyment of the text

DANGER!!!!!!!

Deconstruction can take away or enjoyment of the text

• The reader’s perspective matters

• Active reading

• Engaging our imagination

• Danger = too much acceptance of the author’s viewpoint can lead to problems

• Strong readers/good analyzers are– able to see things from different perspectives– Be confident in their analysis– Able to enjoy reading because of/in spite of

deep/intense analysis

• The reader’s perspective matters

• Active reading

• Engaging our imagination

• Danger = too much acceptance of the author’s viewpoint can lead to problems

• Strong readers/good analyzers are– able to see things from different perspectives– Be confident in their analysis– Able to enjoy reading because of/in spite of

deep/intense analysis