1. Book by Thomas C. Foster Summary Presentation by Ryan M Blanck

2. What is it about?
What it means to be human.
Common struggles and conflicts.
How we relate to each other.
How we relate to the world around us.
All literature is a part of the bigger Story.

3. Everything is connected in some way.
There is no such thing as a truly original story.
Avoidance is also a form of interaction.

4. Our first reading and response to a text is (and should be) an emotional one
Did you like it or not? Why?
You don’t have to like “good” literature, and you are welcomed to love “bad” literature.

5. The “Grammar of Literature”
Conventions
Patterns
Codes
Plot Devices
Character Types
Point of View
Symbols

6. When doing a close reading, look for:
Allusions
Symbols
Character Types
Plot Devices and Patterns

7. There is no such thing as an original story.
Authors make purposeful references to other works of literature, and play off of our responses to those works.
“Intertextuality”

8. Must learn to look for patterns, archetypes, and recurrences.
The more you read, the more you’ll find.
Not knowing the allusions will not necessarily hurt our enjoyment of a text, but it may hurt our understanding of it.

9. Almost all allusions come from:
Shakespeare
The Bible
Fairy Tales
Mythology (mostly Greek & Roman)

10. Every generation reinvents Shakespeare in its own way.
Variations on plots.
Character studies.

11. Borrowed titles, lines, names, etc.
Why?
Sacred text
Sounding board for contemporary authors.

12. Judeo-Christian influence on European and American culture and literature.
Read the Bible as a work of literature.

13. The Bible contains the most basic human conflicts and struggles:
Loss of innocence
Redemption

14. Many stories come out of authors’ own spiritual struggles.
Many writers from the past were lay ministers and clergy.

15. Borrowed titles, situations, characters, quotations, names, etc.
Most popular:
The Fall
Christ Figures
Prodigal Sons

16. Everyone knows children’s stories.
Authors use what is familiar to help make sense of what is unfamiliar.
Hansel & Gretel: Lost children trying to find their way home.

17. Myth: a story told to help make sense of the world.
Go back to cultural roots.
Mythology is so imbedded in our culture that we don’t often recognize it when we see it.

18. Common Themes:
Heroism
Nobility
Loyalty
Sacrifice
Loss

19. Homer gives us the four great struggles:
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Divine
Man vs. Others
Man vs. Ourselves

20. Other great conflicts:
Protecting our family
Maintaining our dignity
Remaining faithful
Returning home

21. Short answer: Sure it is.
More difficult question: What does it mean?
Symbols can be objects or actions.
Some symbols are very exact in their meaning.
Most symbols rarely have only one meaning.

22. Stories where everything is symbolic = Allegory
Allegories fall apart when there is ambiguity.
Stories lose their value when symbolism becomes overly simplified.

23. Tools for interpreting symbolism:
Questions, Experience, Knowledge
Interpretation is based in large part on the reader’s experience.
What does it feel like it is doing?

24. Different writers give objects and actions different meanings.
We must consider the writer’s world and experiences.

25. What is the “one story” about?
List the four most prevalent sources for literary allusions?
Who first defined the four great conflicts?
What is the easy answer to the question “Is that a symbol”?
What is the more difficult answer to that question?

26. Some common symbolic elements:
Journeys
Meals
Weather
Seasons
Flight
Baptism
Physical Impairments

27. Elements of a Quest Narrative:
Knight, Road, Holy Grail, Dragon, Evil Knight, Princess.
Or:
Quester, Place to Go, Reason to Go, Challenges, Real Reason to Go.
Most often, the Quester must face the challenges alone.

28. Stated reason for the Quest is never the Real reason for the Quest.
Real Reason = Self-knowledge.

29. A meal = communion = peace & community
Shared meals have nearly universal cultural and religious significance, but need not always be sacred.
A meal in literature needs a reason to be there.
A shared meal highlights our shared experiences.

30. Rain = cleansing, judgment, restoration.
Rain can have religious significance.
Rainbows = redemption, divine promise

31. Rain can be: plot device, atmosphere, mood
Rain is democratic (falls on everyone)

32. Fog = confusion
Snow: very similar to rain
Cold, Harsh, Pure, Unforgiving

33. Seasons have pretty universally accepted meaning:
Age
Seasons of Life
Moods & Emotions
Imagery & Setting
Fall = Harvest = Task Accomplished

34. Humans can’t fly.
Flying = Freedom
Falling is also important, especially if the character lands safely (effects of survival).

35. How a character gets wet and responds to the water can have important symbolic implications.
Coming up out of water = rebirth (baptism).
A character must be ready to receive the baptism.

36. Physical Impairments are most often identified early in the story.
Can (used to) signify moral imperfections.
Questing hero (war hero) often injured or marked.

37. Common Types of Physical Impairments:
Blindness
Heart Disease
Illness

38. Blindness = special insight
The Blind often help other characters to see what is obvious to the rest of us.
Metaphorical Blindness (“Blinded by…”)

39. Heart Disease is the perfect metaphorical illness.
It usually represents some social, emotional, or moral ailment.

40. Every era has its disease of choice.
Before the discovery of germs, there was a great deal of mystery surrounding illness.
Some authors made up illnesses to suit their needs.

41. An illness should be:
Symbolic
Picturesque
Mysterious
Characters’ responses to illnesses (their own and others’) is what is important.

42. Two Common Character Types:
Christ Figures
Vampires

43. Why?
Christian values and ideals are foundational in our culture and literature.
Author is trying to make a point by using a Christ figure in his story.
But… don’t force it or try to read too much into it.

44. Characteristics:
Humble (everyman)
Attractive
Divisive
Self-sacrificing
Redeems others
Usually symbolic, not a perfect likeness.

45. Dracula was very attractive and alluring.
He violated young women, took their usefulness, and left them helpless.

46. Characteristics:
Selfish
Exploitative
Feeds off of others
Refuses to respect autonomy of others
Often a human character that consumes others.

47. Authors use certain devices and patterns to achieve certain purposes.
Common Plot Devices:
Violence
Sex

48. Violence against another person can be a very intimate act with important implications.
In real life, violence just is.
In literature, violence usually contains meaning and metaphor.

49. Two types of violence in literature:
Violence among characters
Narrative violence
Look for thematic implications, resemblance to other acts of violence, and method of violence.

50. Blame our fascination with sexual meaning on Freud.
In literature, normal objects and actions can take on sexual meaning.
In literature, sex is always about something else.

51. There are several other important elements to consider when reading a work of literature:
Geography
Politics
Context

52. Why does the author choose particular locations for the setting of his story?
Geography carries certain cultural, political, and economic implications.
Geography = people inhabiting spaces and spaces inhabiting people.

53. Consider the geography’s impact on:
Character (psychology & motivations)
Plot structure

54. Consider the opposites in geography:
North vs. South
East vs. West
City vs. Nature
High vs. Low
South = running amok

55. Consider the politics of the time and place of publication.
“Political” writing doesn’t travel well.
Real political writing deals with real issues.
Some say that every work is either part of the problem or part of the solution.

56. Try to read with the eyes of the original audience; understand the context.
What is the author really getting at?
Understanding ≠ Acceptance

57. IRONY TRUMPS EVERYTHING.
Irony = devices not used in traditional ways, or not used at all.
We have to understand the accepted uses of a device to understand its ironic usage.

58. The signifier remains the same, but the significance changes.
The signifier may mean many things, but irony employs a unconventional, unexpected meaning.

59. Types of Irony:
Verbal Irony
Dramatic Irony
Structural Irony
Cosmic Irony

60. In good literature, assume that all symbolism and allusions are intentional.
But we can’t know for sure.

61. Good writers are good readers.
Old writers were very well-versed in the classics.
Lateral Thinking & Intertextuality

62. What does he do and what can we discover from it?

63. Book by Thomas C. Foster Summary Presentation by Ryan M Blanck