How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 19-26)

Here is the last set of the notes I took for How to Read Literature Like a Professor:

19. GEOGRAPHY: The type of land a story takes place in (e.g. hills, plains, valleys) usually implies something important in the story. The unique, specific location of the story (e.g. Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland for example) is also important because of the political, social, and economical ramifications. Oh, and when characters go South, they go hedonistic and berserk.

20. SEASONS

a. Fall – harvests, reaping what we sow, oldness and expectation of death, tiredness

b. Winter – death, cruelty, harshness, resentment, coldness

c. Spring – birth, rebirth, childhood and youth

d. Summer – romance, growth, adulthood, fulfillment, passion

INTERLUDE: All stories come from one single story – the story of humans being humans.

21. MARKS: When someone stands out from the others either physically or psychologically, they’re marked for greatness (or infamy). Try to figure out why that part of the body.

22. BLINDNESS: It’s funny, but blindness in literature usually is a big huge marquee sign that tells the reader, “PLEASE LOOK AND EXAMINE CAREFULLY.” If you want your audience to know something important about your character (or the work at large), introduce it early, before you need it.

23. HEART DISEASE: Heart disease usually means sickness of the heart, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.

24. ILLNESS:

a. Rules of diseases in literature:

i. Not all diseases are created equal. Mostly due to image.

ii. It should be picturesque.

iii. It should be mysterious in origin.

iv. It should have strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities.

v. Every age has its special disease. (TB in Victorian Era, AIDS in the 1990s)

25. DON’T READ WITH ONLY YOUR EYES, OR THEIR EYES: Try to mix your perceptions with the context in which the literature was written for the best possible enriched reading.

26. GUESS WHAT?!?! IRONY DOESN’T FOLLOW ANY OF THE RULES I STATED ABOVE!!!! IT’S JUST THAT AWESOME!!!

Intertextuality in cliched Asian Dramas and "chick flicks" - How to Read Literature Like a Professor

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster urged us readers to think of intertextuality in terms of movie westerns. However, as a teenager, I couldn't really relate to this genre (I do love Clint Eastwood though). Then I had a brilliant idea: being a sucker for the romantic and the melodramatic, what if I applied this whole intertextuality idea to a familiar realm -- Asian drama and romance movies? Success.

So one day this past summer, I took the liberty of digging through my movie archives and listing at the numerous Asian dramas and American "chick flicks" I've watched. I've found numerous similarities between Asian and American movies alike, but here are three of the most common and really obvious romantic/dramatic movie archetypes I've noticed:

1. Girl/guy gets amnesia, but nevertheless the heart prevails and they fall in love all over again and all that jazz (or the amnesiac regains his/her memory)

American movies: The Promise (1971 movie), The Notebook
Asian dramas: Stairway to Heaven, Endless Love 2: Winter Sonata, Meteor Garden II, Save the Last Dance for Me

* Creepy similarities: The amnesia in all these dramas are caused by a car accident, with the exception of The Notebook

2. Girl and guy love each other to bits, but girl/guy (mostly the girl) dies from some tragedy

American movies: A Walk to Remember, Atonement
Asian dramas: Endless Love 1: Autumn in My Heart, Windstruck

* Creepy similarities: The girls from both A Walk to Remember and Endless Love 1 both die from leukemia.

3. Guy falls in love with the less attractive/less desirable heroine instead of the other, more attractive (usually self-absorbed and condescending) girl he used to love

American movies: Ugly Betty, Bridget Jones's Diary
Asian dramas: My Name is Kim Sam Soon

* Creepy similarities: The protagonists in both Kim Sam Soon and Bridget Jones's Diary are both in their thirties.

4. Guy and girl fake their relationship and eventually fall in love

American movies: The Proposal

Asian dramas: Lovers in Paris, Full House

* Creepy similarities: They all fake marriage because of some ulterior motive. Moreover, the dynamics between these couples are usually very antagonistic at first, then slowly it melts into love.

It's funny how intertextuality rings true even between movies from completely different cultures. Moreover, even though the stories in much of these American and Asian romance/dramas are pretty much the same, I find that I never get tired of them! Much more, when one needs a moment of catharsis, fascinatingly, these movies never fail to serve their purpose. I suppose we owe Foster and his book for the explanation, that these cliches "[set] off vibrations deep in our collective consciousness, calling to us, alarming us, inspiring us to dream or nightmare, making us want to hear it again. And again and again and again."

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 10-18)

Sorry for the long, long, hiatus with the blogging. As far as I know, I've kept up with the summer reading at a fairly good pace throughout the whole summer (traveling by Caltrain to and from Palo Alto every day to work gives me the luxury of being able to read my summer books). I usually have my messy drafts written down in my word processor (and at times, my smartphone) so it's just a matter of organizing and formatting the content that I've been lagging at right now. Sorry I haven't been able to post everything faster because I've been caught with work, doctor's appointments, and even more doctor's appointments. I hope I will get everything sorted out eventually.

But I digress.

Here is the continuation of the notes I took as I read How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

10. WEATHER:

a. Rain – flood and rebirth, plot devices, misery, isolating, democratic (rain falls on everyone equally), sad, cleansing, brings forth the emergence of life, forms rainbows – peace, pact between God and man, flashy.

b. Fog – confusing.

c. Snow - clean, stark, severe, warm (as an insulating blanket, paradoxically), inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, filthy (after time), great unifier because it falls upon all the living and the dead.

11. VIOLENCE:

a. Violence, one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings, always means something in literature.

b. People-on-people violence may have larger societal and cultural implications

c. Authors kill their characters to work magic with the plot

d. Compared to murders in mystery novels, violence on other characters have meaning because the author usually takes time to develop the characters, therefore adding weight.

e. Always ask: Does this violence/death resemble other works? Why do they die; what is the purpose of their death? Why this death and not another?

12. SYMBOLS: If an aspect of literature (can be actions, things, people, events) refers to one specific, distinguishable thing, it’s allegory; if it can mean many things, it’s a symbol. But you can’t just say x means y—try to analyze what the author’s trying to do with the said symbol.

13. POLITICS: Since literature is often written in context of, or in response to, the events of its time, and most definitely influenced by the leading customs during the time it was written, it’s a statement of the social, political, cultural, and economical conditions of its time (even if it doesn’t mean to make a statement).

14. CHRIST: A character does not need to match all the qualities of Christ in order to be a Christ figure. If the few criteria are met, try to figure out the point the writer wants to make—does the Christ reference emphasize the character’s sacrifice, redemption, betrayal, miracle, etc.?

15. FLYING

a. Usually symbolizes freedom and/or ascension (towards heaven and whatnot)

b. Flying doesn’t need to be literal—can be symbolic flying

c. When flying, pay attention to what they symbolize when they fly (angel? bird? butterfly? vulture? bee?).

d. Flying can also be used to emphasize:

i. The intensity of falling—as in the case of Icarus

ii. Being grounded (and probably unable to escape)—as in the case of Angela Carter’s bird character

iii. Play on our fears of falling to our deaths

16. THINGS = SEX: Sometimes, cigars aren’t just cigars. Things symbolize sex. Due to vast censorship, writers can’t show explicit sex, so they show it through symbols. Time to psychoanalyze like Freud! Keep on the lookout for phallic and female symbols. I have to admit it, LOOKING FOR INNUENDOS IS PROBABLY THE MOST FUN ASPECT OF ANALYZING LITERATURE. YESSSSSS.

17. ACTUAL SEX DOES NOT SYMBOLIZE SEX: Sex always implies something else symbolically besides sex. If sex simply means sex, it’s what we fanfiction writers call PWP, or “porn without plot.”

a. Implications of sex

i. Relationship dynamics – pay attention to the relationship of the parties involved

* Pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination

* Class struggles (sex from different classes)

ii. It can say something about the attitudes of the characters

iii. Conflicts – against society, against censorship, against gender roles, etc.

iv. Enlightenment and loss of innocence

18. DROWNING: Character suicide is a character’s way of exerting control from their otherwise uncontrollable life. Emerging from water (whether after drowning or not) can symbolize baptism—and with it death, rebirth, change, and a new identity.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 1-9)

As I started reading Catch-22, I found it quite hard to remember all the techniques that were taught in How to Read Literature like a Professor. So, in order to be able to remember the aspects of a story that I should be looking for in order to analyze it well, I organized the tricks into easy, memorable one-liners (or multi-liners) that I can print for later reference.

1. QUESTS: Quests are used for attaining self-knowledge and/or self-improvement, usually by novices/naïve people.
2. MEALS: Meals, which symbolize camaraderie, usually reflect the dynamics/relationships of the people sharing the meal.
3. VAMPIRES: Anything that takes advantage of someone and/or sucks the life of someone is a symbolic vampire. Real vampires, on the other hand, usually symbolize something subliminal, such as sex.
4. SONNETS: Don’t just look at the content of the poem; look at how it looks like visually—it might provide clues as to the meaning the poem conveys.
5. IT PROBABLY CAME FROM SOMEWHERE: No work of literature is wholly original—the story you’re reading, or a character, is probably a derivative of some other story.
6. SHAKESPEARE: …is everywhere! From the plots to the famous one-liners. His ubiquity gives your literature authority, in a way that since everyone knows Shakespeare one way or another they’re going to get what you’re meaning.
7. BIBLE: …is also everywhere—in Western literature, at least. So, stack up your knowledge of the Scriptures, because Biblical references are bound to be everywhere.
8. HANSEL&GRETEL: …is also everywhere. Everyone knows them because everyone was taught about them when they were once kids.
9. MYTHS: There’s bound to be heavy references to Greek, Roman, or other kinds of Euro- or American- myths somewhere in literature. Be on the lookout.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Chapters 1-4)

Although I have only started to read Thomas Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor, it has already quite changed my perspective in literature, after only four chapters.

After reading Chapter 1, which talked about quests, I decided to mentally go through all the literature I've read and the movies I've watched within the past few months and figure out what the problem, or "quest", was in each one of them and what the characters, or the "quester", was looking for. I noticed that it doesn't really matter whether the quest/problem is solved or found, as long as the character's personality grows in the end.

Chapter 2, which is about the role eating plays in a story, was an "a-ha" moment for me. When Foster explained that a mundane event such as eating reflects the dynamics between characters in a story, and usually symbolizes the desire for peace and sharing, I immediately thought back to Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley, a book that I had just finished reading that same day. Grimsley subtly tells the readers that Nathan, the protagonist, has a very dysfunctional family by describing what goes on in their dinner table: whenever Nathan's father dines with them, Nathan is so afraid of his abusive father that he tries to eat so fast he can barely taste his food, and Nathan's mother barely talks.

Oh, and on a side-note: I thought the anecdote at the beginning of Chapter 2 was quite funny. Freud incessantly talks all that stuff about people's psychological sexual drives, but when the joke's on him, he gets all worked up about it. Freud, maybe you're just in-denial. Not like most of your theories were right, anyway. Cigars being just cigars...what pish posh!

Just kidding.

Chapter 3, about vampires, is interesting because it talks about symbolic "vampires" in stories. Not the Edward Cullen kind of vampire. Rather than think about literature, it just made me ponder on whether I'm being a symbolic "vampire", especially when it comes to my parents (taking their wallet into account, this analogy makes sense). This chapter also makes me wonder whether a character can be a "self-vampire"--meaning they wither and die on their own, or use up their energy or vitality on their own.

As for Chapter 4, I'm not really much of a poet-lover, so I pretty much read the chapter just to get on to the next chapter (don't worry, I actually read it; no skimming here). Nevertheless it was informative.

Edit: Last night I finally decided which books I'm going to read for the summer, and ordered them through Amazon! (Well, I have them on my downloaded phone but I miss the feel of having a book in my hands). They shall be here in a week or so--I probably won't even be done with How to Read Literature when I get the books.