Analysis Of How To Read Novels Like A Professor By Thomas Foster

The novel How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, takes the reader inside the journey of embracing and analyzing a novel. This book helps one to deepen and further their understanding and become more in tune with the piece of writing itself. In the very first chapter, Foster jumps rights in and begins to examine the first page of a novel. He speaks of how they must be “seductive” and “give you everything you need to know.” It is kind of a life or death situation. If the first page is intriguing, one will continue to read and the novel in a way lives on, but if it fails to make the reader want more it will be closed and in a way it’s the end of the journey. With so much pressure put on the first page, it must convey an extraordinarily

On the first page he addresses the audience and quickly begins to reminisce. It opens with a very lighthearted tone, one of the “eighteen beauties” Foster mentions. Tone is a writer's way of expressing and conveying a certain feel and attitude in the novel. Here, Goldman wants the readers to feel at ease and be eager to go on this journey with him while he recaps his “ favorite book in all the world.” He continues to try to make his telling of the story very intimate in a way, as he allows the audience to see him be vulnerable and experience those feelings of being “petrified” alongside with him. This sort of intimate relationship Goldman is hoping to achieve with his readers helps tie into the next piece of information Foster says can be learned in the opening words of a novel. Number six on his list, Foster examined the idea of a narrative presence. This idea is quite prominent in The Princess Bride and helps to establish the novel. Foster describes narrative presence as how this voice telling the story is either present or disconnected from the story and how their personality shines through in this very first

This eagerness and excitement from the first sentence nearly jumps off the page and is transported into the body of the reader, making them excited to continue reading and learning more about this amazing book of his. Seeing Goldman’s strong personality is an excellent example of narrative presence and is pivotal to the opening moments of the novel. Furthermore, the first page of The Princess Bride explores Foster’s concept of time management. After his initial introduction, William Goldman quickly jumps back in time to a time in his childhood where he feels in a crucial point to help him begin and explain this story he is about to convey to his readers. “ I’ll do my best to explain. As a child…” The flashback presented on the first page helps establish a sense of time and shows that there may be several different points of time referred to in order to help tell the best story to the audience. Fourthly, Goldman uses place in his novel which is “more than mere setting.” Place is as Foster says a way of seeing. Starting on the first page and throughout the novel, we are continuously brought back to that place in Goldman’s