Two Common Reader

Throughout her essay, Woolf drives her argument home by using strong appeals to logos and pathos. In many instances, she shares empirical evidence to appeal to the reader’s intellect: “The only charge I could bring against the Fellows and Scholars was that

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas C. Foster extensively teaches literary conventions that teach a reader how to read between the lines. The main goal of this guide is to help a reader read to a level such as a professor, which entails being able to read analytically. Throughout Foster's literary guide, he sets out essential elements of literature that aid in the ability to read analytically. How to Read Literature Like a Professor focuses on not only external influences, but also in text elements such as structure, themes, and setting. Throughout Foster's guide there are many valuable keys to reading, some of the most prominent in literature being biblical reference, character quests, and character baptism. Chapters

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster is a book that explains there is more to literature than just a few words on a paper or a few pages in a book. Thomas Foster’s book portrays a relatable message to a wide based audience. This book is relatable for two reasons, the way it is written and the examples it uses. The book is written in a conversational manner, as if the reader was in a group discussion about books and writing. As for the examples, they are informative, descriptive, relative, and entertaining.

of why she's apprehensive of the books, other than that because the society says she should be.

Frye now deals with the respective claims of the reader and writer, the producer and consumer of literature. “We need two powers in literature,” he says, “a power to create and a power to understand” (p. 104). Both writer and reader need to understand literary convention.

Literature is an essential part of the center of a person’s life. It provides a certain assurance and “feeds the soul” of one. Whether it be a book, TV, or even an advertisement, literature exists everywhere. A person is able to develop many skills by studying literature, and expand the horizon of their learning. An immeasurable amount of insight and knowledge can be gained from the study of literature which contributes in providing readers with an understanding of the past, and a philosophical assimilation of the moral behind a writing piece.

This shows that authors of the twentieth century were attempting to dismantle these preconceptions that readers had of their characters before they had even read the text. The preconceiving of characters is a way in which readers blur the line which distinguishes between fiction and reality as they attach human

Technical analysis of “Studying Literature in Grade 12” It is important for any society to protect and promote its own culture for people to have a sense of the history that shaped their surroundings and the identity of the community they live in. Mrs. Smith, in the essay “Studying Literature in Grade 12”, brings forth the detailing of why Ontario students, studying English, need not bother with reading other authors than modern Canadian writers. Unfortunately, the message already controversial and polarizing is riddled with mistakes. The essay suffers from failures in building structure, conveying ideas, citing sources and proofreading text. This work would greatly benefit from a rewrite so it can perform the job it was meant to do: persuade the reader.

In Nabokov’s 1948 “Good Readers and Good Writers,” the reader has the opportunity to view the possibilities of a beautiful collision of a major reader and a major writer. This piece discusses reading and writing: skills that have become standardized and slightly devalued as education has advanced. Literacy has become so expected that little thought is put into what defines a good reader or writer; Nabokov tackles this idea head on. Nabokov’s intention of this piece is to passionately display a relationship that is formed between a good reader and a good writer, and the essential need for an open mind. He stresses the vitality of understanding instead of immediately identifying when reading;

Critics marvel at Austen’s superb adroitness, her complex and balanced plots, her vivacity discussion, her deftly controlled ironic tone, amusing and critical at the same time. Readers delight her sharply drawn characters and her insight into human’s nature. The effortlessness of her writing, along with its lifelike characters attests to Austen’s skill as a writer. As a twentieth century author, Virginia Woolf noted, “of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness” A Room of One’s Own, 1929. Works of Jane Austen were criticized by different authors, Sir Walter Scott said” read again and again, for the third time at least, Miss Austen’s finely written novel of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with” The Diary of Sir Walter Scott (March 14, 1826). Mark Twain said” I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I cant conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull

“According to Stock, an examination of this very broad historical palate reveals two traditional approaches to the question of why we read: the "aesthetic" and the "ascetic." The aesthetic approach "involves the pleasure of the text in and for itself" (7), says Stock. One of its most distinctive features is the absence of an ethical dimension. In other words, reading for pleasure (or, as Stock sometimes says, "enjoyment") is bereft of an ethical or moral aspect.”

Initially, Woolf’s essay on ‘How should one read a book’, is a great example of why we read and I agree with her wholeheartedly. Woolf starts of by elucidating that reading is a personal experience for each individual. She says that the only advice you can give to another about reading is to “take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions.” (Woolf, pg.1) In other words, literature makes us independent thinkers and this is one of the reasons why we should read. Reading literature requires imagination, creativity, and our own personal opinion. We should never let anyone tell us how to read a certain piece of literature so that we can arrive to our own conclusions based of our own interpretation

Virginia Woolfe, throughout the length of this essay argues that whatever advice she gives and whatever instructions she provides would only apply to her, as everyone reads, interprets, and imagines differently, and there is no one correct way to read a book. Each must decide their own choices for themselves, because while reading, there is no correct answer to what is better and what is not. She suggests that we must banish all preconceptions before reading a book, we must put ourselves in the shoes of the author and see what they saw in order to appreciate what they wrote. Books can be used to see into another world, another time, and into the life of a person who may be long dead or a celebrity far out of reach. Books can allow us to fulfill the curiosity we feel of learning about a total stranger and seeing into their life. We see what the author saw, or perceive what they perceived when talking to or meeting the person they are writing about, or living in the time they are portraying on paper. It is impossible to tell whether what you are reading is true or just what the author thought to be, which is why Woolfe tells us we must ask ourselves how much a book is influenced by it’s writers life, how far is it safe to let the writer interpret the written word for you. We must sympathise and fantasize and create worlds in our head to allow us to perceive what really happened. But we can also read with another aim; Woolfe says we don’t

The Premature Obituary of the Book: Why Literature is an essay written by Mario Vargas Llosa. In this essay Llosa writes that it is crucial for literature to be a part of people’s lives. In Why Literature he writes that reading is important for the mind, communication, and developing knowledge about life and democratic ideals. Reading is not only important for one’s self but for the world. Just as he mentioned in his quote, it’s not just about the leaf, or the person, but its about seeing the world in different ways and being able to experience and gain knowledge on all subjects. Through his writing he gives many valid points as to why reading literature is important to people of all ages and genders all around the world. Llosa’s persuasive essay is relatable and can get readers thinking about the importance of reading by using many valid points in his essay. Llosa presents his reading to many different audiences and he effectively persuades the audience through his points given in the reading. He does this because he wants the reader to understand why it is necessary for people to learn and experience new things through reading literature and other texts.

Reading has at all times and in all ages been a source of knowledge, of happiness, of pleasure and even moral courage. In today's world with so much more to know and to learn and also the need for a conscious effort to conquer the divisive forces, the importance of reading has increased. In the olden days if reading was not cultivated or encouraged, there was a substitute for it in the religious sermon and in the oral tradition. The practice of telling stories at bed time compensated to some extent for the lack of reading. In the nineteenth century Victorian households used to get together for an hour or so in the evenings and listen to books being read aloud. But today we not only read, we also want to read more and more and catch up