New Releases by Thomas C. Foster

你喜歡看電影嗎？ 你覺得某部片很好看嗎？ 除了「好看」，你還能從中看出什麼？ 20堂電影課，解構百餘部西洋電影， 從經典到類型，從藝術片到商業娛樂片， 帶你看出更多有趣、以往從未發現的細節！ 《王者之聲》喬治六世廣播演說的場景震撼人心，關鍵竟在剪接師的鏡頭安排！ 你以為無聲電影的時代過去了嗎？看看《辛德勒的名單》如何利用無聲畫面製造戲劇張力！ 《少年Pi的奇幻漂流》以救生艇隱喻Pi的孤獨，希區考克作品裡的救生艇又代表什麼意思？ 電影是動態的語言，有獨特的文法與規則，它在不同的時間、空間裡演示許多事件，並由許多不同的元素組合起來，諸如：視覺、音效、背景音樂、光線控制、時間掌握、空間安排、動作以及對白。只要了解「電影文法」，徹底解析這種語言，你就能在觀影中得到更多收穫，看到其他人沒有發現的趣味。 本書提供20堂有關於「看電影」的課程，列舉多達100部電影做為範例，不管是好片、爛片，如何從一部片，看出一些以往你從未發現過的趣味，讀懂一些從前你根本不在意的橋段，讓你驚覺「看電影」原來是一種獨特的動態語言的學習： ‧音效課─無聲勝有聲：獲獎無數的《大藝術家》，向開啟全球電影史序幕的黑白默片致敬！ ‧光影課─明暗對比：還記得《魔戒二部曲》，聖盔谷浴血之戰與白袍巫師甘道夫再現的場景嗎？ ‧開場課─精采到讓人忘了手中的爆米花：伴隨你我童年的《法櫃奇兵》，如何創造闖關無敵的冒險英雄人物？ ‧課堂小測驗：你能看出電影裡的多少細節？找一下《亞果出任務》，裡面有一切我們想要看的元素！ 每個人都是分析電影的專家，一般觀影者欣賞的電影數量，到了二十五歲時就會比一生讀的書還要多！所以其實你也可以擁有自己對電影的解析、闡釋，而且沒有人可以擁有你的見解。一部電影包含了許多元素，但真正有趣的地方在於，我們可以分析、詮釋這些元素如何影響電影的意涵。你可以是觀影者，也可以是不再被動的原創作者。 準備好從全新的角度欣賞電影了嗎？ 【練習1】 想觀察演員如何發揮他們的演技嗎？選一個你喜歡的演員以及他所演出的不同類型電影，觀察他們在不同的環境下如何演出？例如，珍妮佛．勞倫斯在《瞞天大佈局》、《派特的幸福劇本》和《飢餓遊戲》中，如何運用眼睛、嘴巴、身體、聲音等技巧去演活不同角色？ 【練習2】 想了解光線、取景等技術對電影的影響嗎？你可以在接下來觀看的五部電影中，特別專注於技術部分。你需要看兩次，第一次享受故事的基本架構，第二次則專注在那些技術元素上。照這個方法看過幾部電影後，你就能自然而然地察覺到那些技術元素在電影裡的運作功能。 本書特色 1.作者具備將近30年的教學經驗，教你看懂電影、解構電影。 2.內容淺顯易懂，文字幽默風趣，有別於一般枯燥生硬的教材。 3.收錄全球百部經典電影，旁徵博引，貫穿全書。 4.一書在手，聊天找話題絕對不怕冷場。 好評推薦(依姓名筆劃排序) 左撇子/影評人 藍祖蔚/電影書寫人 看電影有許多種方式，你可以輕輕鬆鬆地觀賞，也可以不斷的向下推敲，像是影像語言、演技展現、音樂鋪排甚至是特效應用等等，《好電影如何好？──教你看懂電影的20堂課》就是一本教你如何鑽研探究電影的參考書，可以讓讀者能夠進一步的挖掘看電影的樂趣。 ──半瓶醋/影評人 電影是活動的藝術，而畫面如何活、鏡頭怎麼動，本書以富含層次的文字帶領你梳理，讓心底的「電影感」不再虛無飄渺！ ──張硯拓/影評人 從看完電影到看懂電影，有時存在著一段遙遠的距離。這二十堂課以最淺顯易懂的有趣文字，帶領你逐步接近電影的殿堂。 ──鄭秉泓/影評人 看電影當然可以被視為娛樂，但好的電影能沈澱在我們心房發酵，並且成為無與倫比的記憶。這本書可看為入門理解電影的專業角度，讓你看電影不只是看爽就好，還能看好看滿。 ──膝關節/影評人 原書名：《教你看懂電影的20堂課：好電影如何好》

The New York Times bestselling author of the beloved classic How to Read Literature Like a Professor teaches you how to write everything from a report for your community association to a meaningful memoir in this masterful and engaging guide. Combing anecdotes and hard-won lessons from decades of teaching and writing—and invoking everyone from Hemingway to your third-grade teacher—retired professor Thomas C. Foster guides you through the basics of writing. With How to Write Like a Writer you’ll learn how to organize your thoughts, construct first drafts, and (not incidentally) keep you in your chair so that inspiration can come to visit. With warmth and wit, Foster shows you how to get into (and over) your best self, how to find your voice, and how to know when, if ever, a piece of work is done. Packed with enlightening anecdotes, highlighted with lists and bullet points, this invaluable guide reveals how writers work their magic, and reminds us that we all—for better or worse, whether we mean to or not—are known by what we put on paper or screen, both our thoughts and our words.

The New York Times bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor uses the same skills to teach how to access accurate information in a rapidly changing 24/7 news cycle and become better readers, thinkers, and consumers of media. We live in an information age, but it is increasingly difficult to know which information to trust. Fake news is rampant in mass media, stoked by foreign powers wishing to disrupt a democratic society. We need to be more perceptive, more critical, and more judicious readers. The future of our republic may depend on it. How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor is more careful, more attentive, more aware reading. On bookstore shelves, one book looks as authoritative as the next. Online, posts and memes don’t announce their relative veracity. It is up to readers to establish how accurate, how thorough, how fair material may be. After laying out general principles of reading nonfiction, How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor offers advice for specific reading strategies in various genres from histories and biographies to science and technology to social media. Throughout, the emphasis will be on understanding writers’ biases, interrogating claims, analyzing arguments, remaining wary of broad assertions and easy answers, and thinking critically about the written and spoken materials readers encounter. We can become better citizens through better reading, and the time for that is now.

From the bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes this essential primer to reading poetry like a professor that unlocks the keys to enjoying works from Lord Byron to the Beatles. No literary form is as admired and feared as poetry. Admired for its lengthy pedigree—a line of poets extending back to a time before recorded history—and a ubiquitous presence in virtually all cultures, poetry is also revered for its great beauty and the powerful emotions it evokes. But the form has also instilled trepidation in its many admirers mainly because of a lack of familiarity and knowledge. Poetry demands more from readers—intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—than other literary forms. Most of us started out loving poetry because it filled our beloved children''s books from Dr. Seuss to Robert Louis Stevenson. Eventually, our reading shifted to prose and later when we encountered poetry again, we had no recent experience to make it feel familiar. But reading poetry doesn’t need to be so overwhelming. In an entertaining and engaging voice, Thomas C. Foster shows readers how to overcome their fear of poetry and learn to enjoy it once more. From classic poets such as Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to later poets such as E.E. Cummings, Billy Collins, and Seamus Heaney, How to Read Poetry Like a Professor examines a wide array of poems and teaches readers: How to read a poem to understand its primary meaning. The different technical elements of poetry such as meter, diction, rhyme, line structures, length, order, regularity, and how to learn to see these elements as allies rather than adversaries. How to listen for a poem’s secondary meaning by paying attention to the echoes that the language of poetry summons up. How to hear the music in poems—and the poetry in songs! With How to Read Poetry Like a Professor, readers can rediscover poetry and reap its many rewards.

From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes an indispensable analysis of our most celebrated medium, film. No art form is as instantly and continuously gratifying as film. When the house lights go down and the lion roars, we settle in to be shocked, frightened, elated, moved, and thrilled. We expect magic. While we’re being exhilarated and terrified, our minds are also processing data of all sorts—visual, linguistic, auditory, spatial—to collaborate in the construction of meaning. Thomas C. Foster’s Reading the Silver Screen will show movie buffs, students of film, and even aspiring screenwriters and directors how to transition from merely being viewers to becoming accomplished readers of this great medium. Beginning with the grammar of film, Foster demonstrates how every art form has a grammar, a set of practices and if-then propositions that amount to rules. He goes on to explain how the language of film enables movies to communicate the purpose behind their stories and the messages they are striving to convey to audiences by following and occasionally breaking these rules. Using the investigative approach readers love in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster examines this grammar of film through various classic and current movies both foreign and domestic, with special recourse to the “AFI 100 Years-100 Movies” lists. The categories are idiosyncratic yet revealing. In Reading the Silver Screen, readers will gain the expertise and confidence to glean all they can from the movies they love.

UN VIAGGIO INDIMENTICABILE TRA LE PAGINE DEI LIBRI PIÙ AMATI DI TUTTI I TEMPI Una guida che svela cosa si nasconde veramente dentro alle storie che ci appassionano e che trasformerà per sempre il nostro modo di leggere Tutti pensano di saper leggere. Ma è veramente così? Indubbiamente la lettura ci regala un piacere immediato, quello che danno una trama incalzante, un personaggio indimenticabile o un ritmo di scrittura serrato. Ma dentro a ogni libro esiste un universo di significati più profondi, nascosti dietro un sistema di simboli e riferimenti che spesso non siamo allenati a riconoscere, perdendo così quel quid che potrebbe trasformare la nostra esperienza di lettura da un piacevole passatempo a un viaggio memorabile. Che cosa significa, per esempio, quando il nostro eroe si mette in cammino lungo una strada polverosa? E quando si ritrova inzuppato fino alle ossa da un acquazzone improvviso? Con l’aiuto di Hitchcock e Tarantino, Harry Potter e Jane Austen, Thomas C. Foster ci mostra un''altra faccia della letteratura, immergendoci in un mondo dove una strada è simbolo di una ricerca interiore, sedersi insieme attorno a un tavolo può rappresentare una comunione o una rottura imminente e la pioggia è purificatrice o distruttiva, non è mai un semplice scroscio d''acqua... Un libro per tutti gli amanti dei libri e delle storie che cambierà il nostro modo di leggere arricchendo la nostra vita. Kirkus Reviews

Aunque muchos libros pueden ser disfrutados simplemente por la historia que cuentan, a menudo hay significados literarios más profundos que suelen pasar inadvertidos. Esta guía nos muestra lo fácil y gratificante que es descubrir estas verdades escondidas, y entrar en un mundo en el que todo camino es una misión, toda comida un vínculo, y la lluvia, purificadora o destructiva, nunca es simplemente lluvia. Un clásico, revisado y actualizado por el autor, para aprender a leer entre líneas.

好小說，不會只說故事而已！ 「純屬虛構」的故事，如何讓人越陷越深、欲罷不能？ 美國文學評論大師 湯瑪斯．佛斯特教授最新力作 國內英美文學權威 陳超明教授專文導讀 各界名人 肆一、譚光磊、郝譽翔、許榮哲、王聰威、陳珊妮、張靜之好評推薦 小說愛讀者與未來新銳作家必備的「小說教戰手冊」！ 給自認很愛小說你：請先問自己以下3個問題。 如果答不出來，恭喜！你就是這本書的目標讀者！ 1、小說的前幾頁到底有什麼用處？ 世界上小說何其多，而讀者也不是呆瓜，想讓他們心甘情願買帳，作家當然得在小說開頭的前幾頁就下足功夫。打開小說第一頁的那一刻，誘惑就開始了，不信你看看以下這兩個例子： 「戴洛維夫人說她要自己去買花。」－－吳爾芙《戴洛維夫人》 「我沒聽過比這更慘的故事。」－－福特《好軍人》 小說的第一頁，會使盡渾身解數、張牙舞爪的吸引你的目光。戴洛維夫人為什麼非得自己去買花？他買什麼花？那個「很慘的故事」到底是什麼？到底有多悲慘？小說成功的「開場白」，讓我們心甘情願地被作者牽著鼻子走。 那麼小說的前幾頁呢？它們負責給讀者工具，告訴讀者「該怎麼讀」。作者把祕密全藏在小說的前幾頁裡，但只有一小部分的聰明讀者，才有機會去發現、進而享受它。如果你想一窺小說真貌，徹底讀懂它，而不只是欣賞一個有趣的故事而已，就來上這門「美國文學院最受歡迎的小說課」吧！ 2、誰在主導全局？作者、主角還是敘事者？ 猜猜對作家而言，提筆寫小說最大的難題是什麼？答案是決定這本小說將由「誰」來說故事。是主角自己、主角的親密友人？還是另一個置身事外的聲音？ 小說的「敘事觀點」究竟有多重要？曾有人說：「改變敘事觀點就想改變信仰。」好的敘事觀點，就像一個好的說書人，可以讓故事變得更精彩，高潮迭起，絕無冷場。畢竟這個「聲音」將陪你走完一本短則三萬字、長則二十萬字的路途，你能不去了解它嗎？ 為什麼這部小說的旁白置身事外？那部小說卻像上帝一樣無所不知、無所不曉？其實這都是作者的精心安排。原來！全知全能的「神的觀點」適合用來講述長篇故事；英式偵探小說得透過華生醫生的眼睛，福爾摩斯才顯得如此神祕迷人；美式偵探小說則要主角親上火線才夠刺激，讓讀者也跟著熱血沸騰。這本書中，佛斯特教授將分別從7大常見的敘事觀點，分析各類型的小說。 3、故事的主角究竟長什麼樣子？ 請在腦海中想個你最愛小說的其中一個角色。好了嗎？接著，拿紙筆把他畫下來。告訴我，他的眼睛是大是小？體重多少？身高多高？頭髮的顏色呢？臉上有沒有雀斑？ 就算你仔細讀過，也肯定畫不出這幅鉅細靡遺的人物肖像，因為作家根本沒告訴我們這麼多細節。福樓拜在寫《包法利夫人》時，連她眼睛的顏色都搞不定了，你還期望他告訴你包法利夫人長的是圓是扁？關於角色的形貌，好的作者絕不會提示太多，剩下的得由讀者自行建構、腦補。如果每個讀《傲慢與偏見》的女人都愛過達西先生，我的達西肯定與你認識的不同，也絕非電影的樣子。 真正讓角色生動的元素，不在於鉅細靡遺地描述，而是「欲望」。你大可不必知道角色的長相，但必須了解他內心的渴望。在《燈塔行》中，蘭姆西太太的欲望是關乎家庭的；蘭姆西先生則一天到晚沉浸在他的哲學遊戲裡；至於另一個角色莉莉，她始終在找尋認同感，而那也是屬於她的欲望。佛斯特教授認為，只要順著角色間的「欲望衝突」按圖索驥，一定能讀懂小說。 ◎ 你一定知道狄更斯、珍•奧斯汀、海明威，但透過這本書，你可以真正讀懂他們 還記得第一次讀小說的經驗嗎？不論你讀的是武俠、歷史、推理，還是愛情小說，我們常會深陷其中，就算犧牲睡眠也在所不惜；讀罷後，更往往久久不能抽離。小說究竟有何魅力？即使是同一本小說，讀第一次、第二次、第三次的閱讀感受，也都各不相同。 我們都明白，小說家想說的不只是「故事」而已，他們表達的可能是對社會價值觀或現象的反動，也可能是透過書寫來傳達理想──然而，無論小說家想表達的究竟是什麼，故事都不只是故事，它們背後的意義，才是小說真正的精神。 小說很簡單，但其實也很不簡單。進入這座寶山，你豈能空手而返？為了讀出更多樂趣、享受作家精心擘劃、隱藏在小說中的那些祕密，我們需要領路人－－美國文學院最受歡迎的教授「湯瑪斯•佛斯特」。 佛斯特教授繼《教你讀懂文學的27堂課》之後，這回要帶領讀者更進一步地探究「小說」這個史上最受歡迎的文類。本書中，佛斯特教授引用超過兩百本經典文學名著，傳授23個「讀懂」小說的技巧，揭開作者為小說蓋上的神祕面紗，讓我們這些「芸芸讀者」，得以一窺小說的真貌。 《傲慢與偏見》、《大亨小傳》、《百年孤寂》……，你也許讀過這些經典小說，但透過這本書，你可以真正讀懂它們；如果你一本也不認識，那也沒關係，因為讀過這本書後，你保證會迫不及待想閱讀它們！ ◎ 現在就重讀一本你愛的小說，完完全全占有它，一次又一次地 這是你永遠應該保持的態度──去擁有你閱讀的小說。不是去買一本，而是在心智上徹底地占領那些作品，把它們變成「你的」。閱讀是一場作者與讀者之間心靈及想像力的撞擊，而你的心靈和想像力與作者的同等重要。在這場閱讀交易裡，你可以運用本書提供的線索，掌握小說家寫在作品裡，卻不親口告訴你的那些祕密，讓它變得比「好看」更好；甚至透過一次又一次地反覆閱讀，讓小說進一步染上你的顏色，成為獨一無二的超棒小說。 這輩子，你可能沒辦法成為第二個狄更斯、珍・奧斯丁或馬奎斯，但卻可以透過閱讀他們，建構出只屬於你的「私小說」，這就是閱讀的歧異性，也是小說最迷人的地方。現在就重讀一本你愛的小說吧！重新占有它，一次又一次地。讀它千次也不嫌多，因為小說正如它的名字novel，永遠都是新的。 本書特色 1、旁徵博引多達275部小說，讓讀者可以一口氣接觸許多經典小說。 2、深入淺出分析各項小說寫作手法，是小說愛讀者與未來新銳作家必備教戰手冊。 3、獨家收錄英美文學權威陳超明教授專文導讀，台美兩位大師精彩授課一次網羅。 4、台灣版特別附錄後翻式索引頁，方便查找作家與書名，延伸閱讀更多小說。 台灣各界名人【好評推薦】 國內英美文學權威【專文導讀】 陳超明 | 實踐大學講座教授 王聰威 | 聯合文學雜誌總編輯、小說家 郝譽翔 | 國立台北教育大學語創系教授 許榮哲 | 耕莘青年寫作會文藝總監 陳珊妮 | 全方位音樂人 張靜之 | 新生代優質演員 肆 一 | 暢銷作家 譚光磊 | 版權經紀人 像我這種非文學科班出身的人，如果早些年便讀到這本書，或許會變成更厲害的小說家。（現在也不遲就是了！）──聯合文學雜誌總編輯、小說家 王聰威 當你懂得小說的時候，這個世界最美和最惡的東西，都將臣服於你腳下。──耕莘青年寫作會文藝總監 許榮哲 彷彿回到外文系的課堂，聽著最敬佩的教授講話。「一本書會開啓更多的書。」湯瑪斯・佛斯特為我們打開了小說世界的大門，那世界，精彩而美麗。──台灣新生代演員 張靜之 若將小說比喻成一棟房子，讀了這本書，讀者不一定能成為建築師；但是你會瞭解房子的構造、材質、裝飾、動線，並開始想像住進這棟房子裡的自己。──本書譯者 潘美岑 「但丁有他的領路人維吉爾；至於我們這些其他的人，我們有湯瑪斯・佛斯特。」──美國作家、文學評論家 尼可拉斯・巴斯本斯 「湯瑪斯・佛斯特教授慷慨地與我們分享他受過文學訓練的眼光、認真傾聽的耳朵、以及難得的解碼天分，讓文學的藝術活靈活現地展露。」──美國詩人、散文作家 湯瑪斯・林區 美國Amazon讀者【實用推薦】 佛斯特教授的「聲音」，讓我宛如回到最愛的大學課堂一樣美妙。 這本書啟發我，讓我重新檢視過去閱讀過的小說；然後我發現，那些我曾認為很難讀懂的小說，都變得更和藹可親了。 愛書者必讀！「閱讀」也許是一個興趣或嗜好，但這本書卻能讓你從中獲得意想不到的無限快樂。 無論你是閱讀新手或老手，這本書都能幫助你真正讀懂最艱深的小說。

A thoroughly revised and updated edition of Thomas C. Foster''s classic guide—a lively and entertaining introduction to literature and literary basics, including symbols, themes, and contexts—that shows you how to make your everyday reading experience more rewarding and enjoyable. While many books can be enjoyed for their basic stories, there are often deeper literary meanings interwoven in these texts. How to Read Literature Like a Professor helps us to discover those hidden truths by looking at literature with the eyes—and the literary codes—of the ultimate professional reader: the college professor. What does it mean when a literary hero travels along a dusty road? When he hands a drink to his companion? When he''s drenched in a sudden rain shower? Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, Thomas C. Foster provides us with a broad overview of literature—a world where a road leads to a quest, a shared meal may signify a communion, and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just a shower—and shows us how to make our reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun. This revised edition includes new chapters, a new preface, and a new epilogue, and incorporates updated teaching points that Foster has developed over the past decade.

Grasshopper has come to the Ant''s door to extoll the virtues of play now worry later. He mocks the Ants for their rigid culture and suggests they are really little more than thieves.. He argues that the Ant''s success is not theirs alone, but all the inhabitants of the meadow together. Will any of the young Ants heed Grasshopper''s call? What are the Grasshoppers real motives? A whimsical humorous and yet brutally honest retelling of a classic fable. At once familiar, it''s characters and themes however also reflect and address the issues facing our next generation. Grasshopper & the Ants is a definite must read for our times!

As you reevaluate the books you use in your classroom to meet the Common Core Standards, this free collection—filled with selections from classics such as Zora Neale Hurston''s Their Eyes Were Watching God, contemporary novels like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and the AP English favorite How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster—will help you decide which books are right for you and your students.

The go-to bestselling guide to help young people navigate from a middle school book report to English Comp 101 In How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids, New York Times bestselling author and professor Thomas C. Foster gives tweens the tools they need to become thoughtful readers. With funny insights and a conversational style, he explains the way writers use symbol, metaphor, characterization, setting, plot, and other key techniques to make a story come to life. From that very first middle school book report to that first college course, kids need to be able to understand the layers of meaning in literature. Foster makes learning this important skill fun and exciting by using examples from How the Grinch Stole Christmas to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from short stories and poems to movie scripts. This go-to guide unlocks all the hidden secrets to reading, making it entertaining and satisfying.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes a highly entertaining and informative book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped the American character. Thomas C. Foster applies his much-loved combination of wit, know-how, and analysis to explain how each work has shaped our very existence as readers, students, teachers, and Americans. He illuminates how books such as The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, My Ántonia, The Great Gatsby, The Maltese Falcon, Their Eyes Were Watching God, On the Road, The Crying of Lot 49, and others captured an American moment, how they influenced our perception of nationhood and citizenship, and what about them endures in the American character. Twenty-five Books That Shaped America is a fun and enriching guide to America through its literature.

Uma experiência de leitura muito mais curiosa e divertida! Este guia mostra como é gratificante descobrir as verdades escondidas, e um mundo novo na arte de ler, onde uma refeição pode significar a comunhão; a verdade leva a uma busca; e a chuva, ou a mudança brusca de clima que limpa e destrói, pode indicar um caminho de renascimento. Passando pelos grandes temas da literatura e diversas estruturas “Para ler romances como um especialista” é a companhia perfeita para a sua experiência com os livros ser mais curiosa e divertida. Além da história propriamente dita, você entenderá o inconsciente e a emoção dos personagens. E nunca mais lerá um romance da mesma maneira.

''Para ler literatura como um professor'' explica, com uma variedade de exemplos, significados ocultos na literatura, e ajuda o leitor a ter melhor compreensão e apreciação dos livros que já leu e dos que ainda serão lidos. Apresenta capítulos sobre temas como viagens, refeições, poesia, Shakespeare, Bíblia, mitologia, contos de fadas, clima, geografia, violência, política, sexo, doenças, entre outros.

What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey?. Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface—a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character—and there''s that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you. In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun.

The follow-up and companion volume to the New York Times bestselling How to Read Literature Like a Professor—a lively and entertaining guide to understanding and dissecting novels to make everyday reading more enriching, satisfying, and fun Of all the literary forms, the novel is arguably the most discussed . . . and fretted over. From Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote to the works of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and today’s masters, the novel has grown with and adapted to changing societies and technologies, mixing tradition and innovation in every age throughout history. Thomas C. Foster—the sage and scholar who ingeniously led readers through the fascinating symbolic codes of great literature in his first book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor—now examines the grammar of the popular novel. Exploring how authors’ choices about structure—point of view, narrative voice, first page, chapter construction, character emblems, and narrative (dis)continuity—create meaning and a special literary language, How to Read Novels Like a Professor shares the keys to this language with readers who want to get more insight, more understanding, and more pleasure from their reading.

A personal tutoring session with an expert.

Bestselling literature author, Thomas C. Foster, writes in an informal and engaging style to show how a novel''s structure - point of view, narrative voice, chapter construction, character ''emblems'' and even the first sentence, serve to create meaning and form the special literary language of the novel.