Summary Of How To Read Literature Like A Professor By Thomas Foster

650 Words3 Pages

Meagan Sanders
Mrs. Smith
AP Literature and Composition
September 20, 2017
How to Read Literature like a Professor
Thomas Foster wrote a guide to analyzing pieces of literature to lead students in thoroughly searching through texts and documents to find hidden meanings and the reason behind what the author wrote what he did and why he used the techniques he used. Foster used a first-person point of view to help the reader relate better to the topics and his explanation. He changes his tone according to the subject matter he is discussing to change the mood of the text. As well as alluding to multiple classic pieces of literature, he creates an easy systematic guide that benefits students wishing to excel in reading and writing based classes.
Foster chooses to use the first person point of view. The reason behind this is that it is easier for him to relate to the reader and to share his thoughts and experiences on the subject matter. By choosing to …show more content…

The tone that he uses when he introducing a new idea to the reader is very formal and contemplative. For example “Many modern and postmodern texts are essentially ironic … to illustrate a disparity or disruption,” sounds signicantly more sophisticated than, “I lived for a good while not knowing where that phrase came from, although to the extent I thought about it, I was pretty sure. (Foster, pg. 37). (Foster, pg. 38). This shift in tone is very significant to the way the reader connects with the author. By setting a formal mood, Foster creates a feeling of trust from the reader, that they can count on him to be a reliable source of information. However, by referring to his own personal experience of learning and being oblivious to hidden allusions to classic literature, the reader is assured that they can, eventually, read literature like a

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