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/lit/ - Literature

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6746229 No.6746229 [Reply] [Original]

How do I learn to critically analyze books?

>> No.6746244

Have you gone to high school? They teach you there

>> No.6746246

Look at it with sincere interest and you won't help but do it.

>> No.6746254

>>6746244
Yes.
>>6746246
How do I learn to look at books with sincere interest?

>> No.6746265

>>6746229
look up "literary devices"... point out how the author uses them and respond to them.

>> No.6746270

>>6746254
lol

>> No.6746318
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6746318

>>6746270
>lol
Do I look like I'm fucking around here?

>> No.6746646
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6746646

bump

>> No.6746672
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6746672

>>6746229
dont trust the book
be angry at the book
think: this author sure thinks he's smart but i outsmart him

I've always been sorta decent at analysing things and i probably owe that to my neurotic mistrust of all things

>> No.6746726
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6746726

>>6746229

pic related is a fine book for plebs like you and will introduce you into interpreting subtext and symbolism. I also recommend Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer, which is good for introducing close reading and how things like word choice and sentence structure can aid storytelling. You also shouldn't neglect analyzing poetry, as most c/lit/s do here, so check out Shira Wolosky's The Art of Poetry for a good introduction on that.

To go beyond that, you'll have to be on your own for a bit, reading and analyzing books by themselves. Of course, actually reading literary criticism helps. If you buy the Norton Critical Edition of a work, you'll find essays of mixed quality in the back, but they should all help you form your own interpretation of the work.

And don't skip the introductions. Don't worry about it spoiling the plot for you. If you want to be a big boy reader stuff like that shouldn't bother you too much. Learning about critical and historical context should be more important in your mind.

>> No.6746821
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6746821

>>6746726
You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

>> No.6748819
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6748819

bump

>> No.6748871

>>6748819
You already got your answer, didn't you?

>> No.6748876

>>6746229
Start with the Greeks.