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/lit/ - Literature

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11311265 No.11311265 [Reply] [Original]

How do I become a better fiction reader? Like being able to easily pick up on subtext and symbolism and so on.

Pic related is decent but it's mostly about scientific books.

>> No.11311274

I found myself becoming a better reader after taking some lit classes.

>> No.11311285
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11311285

>>11311265
Here's a great resource for learning about schools of literary criticism. Learn more about the ones you like, discard the ones you don't. Right now a lot of schools are still in marxist/"post-colonial"/feminist/queer/etc. modes of critique but things like structuralism still offer great insights into literature.

>> No.11311293

>>11311285
Completely forgot to add resource like a total idiot.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/01/

>> No.11311308

>>11311265
Read Huck Finn a few times, then read Moby Dick.
If you're still not feeling the poetic language, then give Shakespeare's Julius Caesar a shot too

If none of that works, don't get into any school of analysis because you'll just be copypasting other people's thoughts into your vacuous dome.

>> No.11311352

1. Familiarize yourself with the canon's foundational documents—Homer, Sophocles, the Bible, etc. Half of the battle is simply recognizing that these allusions are present. Nad if you're in uni, you can score a lot of points with old white profs by talking about Greeks, Romans, and religion (usually).
2. Take literature classes, and take them seriously (i.e. actually do all the reading). Yale Open Courses has some excellent lectures on youtube that you may find interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewA25FVJ-lawQ-yr-alF58z
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2103FD9F9D0615B7
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL84C3A4DD9C263D79
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4A35EEAEE3880943
The Don Quixote lectures came in clutch when I was writing my senior thesis.

3. Read. A lot. Look up every word you don't know, and try to take notes (not just on what you understand, but on what you don't understand/are curious about as well). Try to draw parallels between works you've been reading, even if they're radically different.

Hope these tips help!

>> No.11311429

>>11311352
These are great, thanks!

>> No.11311456

These are all really great, anons. Thank you all so much! Is it really down to awareness, reading, and processing what you read? That's what I'm taking from these replies and resources, at least.

>> No.11311468

Just keep reading, if you do it right you can become competent at everything you do.

>> No.11312023
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11312023

>>11311468
thanks anon. Will do.

>> No.11312415

>>11311265
For the love of fuck, don't read your pic related, I bought it and read it and it's TRASH

>> No.11312434

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39933.How_to_Read_Literature_Like_a_Professor

>> No.11312441
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11312441

>>11311265

Pic related is a good book for learning how to recognize subtext and symbolism.

>> No.11312787

>>11312434
>>11312441
Wasn't there a summary that someone did of that book?

>> No.11312958

>>11312415
>>11312434
>>11312441
>>11312787
>>/lit/thread/S7421085

>> No.11312963

>>11311265
The best way is to read a lot and familiarize yourself with the classic tropes and metaphors.
Once you do that they will pop out more clearly from the text.

>> No.11312968

>>11311285
>american universities
Roflmaoooo

>> No.11313548

>>11312958
Thank you.