How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines

An interesting guide to how to interpret fiction. You know those classes in college where the professor talked and talked about a book and got so many weird interpretations of it that you were wondering if you had read the same book? Well, this book tries to give you some insight on that process.

Each chapter discusses some thing which is usually symbolic of some other thing. Like:

• Travel/quest

• A meal

• Drowning

• Vampires

• Sex

• Flying

• Blindness

And common themes or tropes in fiction:

• The expendable sidekick

• Parallels to the Bible and to Shakespeare

• The influence of geography

At the end, the author re-prints a short story and analyzes it. Additionally, the does a meta-analysis and asks, “Does all of this really mean anything? Could a blind guy just be a blind guy? Should we bother analyzing things this deeply?”

It’s interesting and enjoyable. If you found lit classes in college frustrating, you will enjoy this, as it has a subtle undertone of poking fun at the entire thing.,

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