Lit Like a Professor Chs. 18-26

Please leave your comments on chapters 18-26 under this post. Thanks!!

Lit Like a Professor Chs. 10-15

Please comment on Chapters 10-15 within this post. Thanks!

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

As you are reading this text, you may have the tendency to think, "Well, duh!" sometimes. I mean, some of this is common sense and some symbolic elements like the seasons are so archetypal that they are almost ingrained in our intellect. However, for the purpose of AP literature, these are all ideas of which you need to be carefully aware as you read. For the first week of posts, I would like for you to choose at least two different chapters, and apply the ideas presented in those chapters to works you have previously read. On the AP exam when you discuss works, they must be works of literary merit, typically the "classics" that you've been reading all along in your English courses. For this discussion, however, you can extend your discussion to works of popular fiction; for instance, I imagine some of you will connect the chapter on vampires with ideas in the Twilight series, and that's ok. My focus here is to get you thinking about the ideas in Foster's book and to stretch your analytical skills without overloading your brain too much (it is summer, after all). Hopefully this book will live up to its subtitle and you will find it "lively" and "entertaining." I look forward to reading your responses.



A couple of reminders:

1) I'm looking for careful thought in terms of the ideas I ask you to consider. Remember that although this blog is set up to encourage a dialogue, you are being graded, so the focus should remain academic.

2) In addition to addressing the ideas I've posted, you may also find it beneficial to read others' posts and comment on what your classmates have said, but I'm looking for extensions or rebuttals of others' comments, not a simple "agree" or "disagree."

3) The inevitable question...."How long does this have to be?" Well, I tend to be long-winded because I love to talk about literature, but let's just say that your post should take you between 20-30 minutes to type each week - kind of like an abbreviated essay, but not so tight in terms of structure and form. I want to see that you have been engaged in the reading and that you are making sense out of what you have read, and I obviously want to see evidence that you are making connections with things you've read before.



Please feel free to ask questions of me within the blog, or if you'd rather do so privately, email me at williamsholly@hotmail.com. I look forward to "talking" with you all this summer!!