Saturday, May 30, 2015

According to Thomas in Chapter 7, why should writers be familiar with fairy tales? (25 words)

7 comments:

  1. Thomas Foster elaborates on the importance of being familiar with fairy tales in "How to Read Literature like a Professor". Foster explains that writers can use " kiddie lit" for "parallels, analogies, plot structures, references, that most of [the writer's] readers will know," (Foster 54). Many readers are exposed to fairy tales of different kinds at young ages, and they keep the tales ingrained in their minds for years to come. The plots, characters, and other elements stick with them, and often make themselves apparent in newer works; writers often can use this to their advantage when trying to produce relatable elements in a work. From a writer's standpoint, Foster states that it's good for them, as instead of recreating the fairy tale, they are using different pieces of the tale to "add depth and texture to [their] sorry, to bring out a theme, to lend irony to a statement, to play with [their] readers' deeply ingrained knowledge of fairy tales" (Foster 57). Writers can implement allusions to fairy tales to give elements of their a more understandable meaning, as many people will recognize the fairy tale elements. If done correctly, writers can utilize numerous elements of a fairy tale in relation to their work, without directly replicating the tale. In responding to the question of why one writer would relate certain elements to fairy tales, Foster says that "we want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity, too." (Foster 58). Readers want new and exciting tales, but don't want to entirely stray from what they know about literature. Writers appeal to this, as using elements from well known fairy tales allows readers to comprehend the texts easier. Being familiar with older fairy tales and their elements can help readers recognize those same elements in texts they read today.

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    1. 1) Good posts
      2) Quite a few grammatical errors - be careful.

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  2. Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains why authors utilize fairy tales when writing. Foster explains that people, “want strangeness in [their] stories, but [they] want familiarity, too” (Foster 58), and while, “the Bible” (foster 58), and, “Shakespeare” (Foster 58) can be used to create that mixture so can, “humbler, more familiar texts” (Foster 58), such as fairy tales. When reading a book people want the book to be different and surprise them even but they also like familiar characters which is why people often like certain others because all of their books a familiar structure. Using characteristics from other artists’ works, author can also create that accustomed feeling, but sometimes Shakespeare is too much or maybe they worry their audience will not recognize it so they use fairy tales instead. Writers such as, “Robert Coover” (Foster 54), in his story, “The Gingerbread House” (Foster 54), “makes use of our knowledge of the original story” of “Hansel and Gretel”, ”by employing signs we’ll recognize as standing in for the parts we’re familiar with” (foster 54). Coover does not add the part about the gingerbread house or the oven because he hints that that is what is happening by his diction. This allows him to create his own version of the story while still a plethora of the original aspects present. Foster mentions that writers are, “not trying to re-create the fairy tale” (Foster 56), but instead they are, “trying to make use of details or patterns, portions of some prior story to add depth and texture to [a] story, to bring out a theme, to lend irony to a statement, to play with readers’ deeply ingrained knowledge of fairy tales” (Foster 56-57). Depending on what the writer is attempting to create in their writing, anything from a phrase to a character to a certain scene could be mimicked in the new text. The main key is to not try to rewrite the original fairy tale with subtle differences and to make sure that the pieces borrowed from the original create the wanted affect in the new text. Authors need to be familiar with fairy tales because they are often used in text to create deeper meanings.

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  3. 1) Redo posts correcting all citation errors. Don't start from scratch. Copy and paste what you have written - just correct all citation errors.

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    1. Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains why authors utilize fairy tales when writing. Foster explains that people, “want strangeness in [their] stories, but [they] want familiarity, too,” and while, “the Bible,” and, “Shakespeare,” can be used to create that mixture so can, “humbler, more familiar texts,” such as fairy tales (Foster 58). When reading a book people want the book to be different and surprise them even but they also like familiar characters which is why people often like certain others because all of their books a familiar structure. Using characteristics from other artists’ works, author can also create that accustomed feeling, but sometimes Shakespeare is too much or maybe they worry their audience will not recognize it so they use fairy tales instead. Writers such as, “Robert Coover,” in his story, “The Gingerbread House,”, “makes use of our knowledge of the original story” of “Hansel and Gretel”, ”by employing signs we’ll recognize as standing in for the parts we’re familiar with” (Foster 54). Coover does not add the part about the gingerbread house or the oven because he hints that that is what is happening by his diction. This allows him to create his own version of the story while still a plethora of the original aspects present. Foster mentions that writers are, “not trying to re-create the fairy tale,” but instead they are, “trying to make use of details or patterns, portions of some prior story to add depth and texture to [a] story, to bring out a theme, to lend irony to a statement, to play with readers’ deeply ingrained knowledge of fairy tales” (Foster 56-57). Depending on what the writer is attempting to create in their writing, anything from a phrase to a character to a certain scene could be mimicked in the new text. The main key is to not try to rewrite the original fairy tale with subtle differences and to make sure that the pieces borrowed from the original create the wanted affect in the new text. Authors need to be familiar with fairy tales because they are often used in text to create deeper meanings.

      Delete
  4. Thomas C. Foster, in "How to Read Literature Like a Professor", explains the need to be familiar with fairy tales. Foster said writers can use "kiddie lit" for "parallels, analogies, plot structures, references" because most of the readers will know it (Foster 54). He is describing how writers can use tales such as "Snow White" or "Hansel and Gretel" because the reader can recognize the original story so the ideas will automatically register in our brain and the writer does not have to use all the details. Foster said writers can "mess around with the stories and turn them upside down" because "you have already internalized it so completely" (Foster 55). He is proving that simple fairy tales that most people know are engraved in their memory. We all know how Snow White has a happy ending with her prince, so we assume that will occur in the story and it will have a happy ending. Foster said that “anything in fact with an evil queen or stepmother” will work to connect the stories (Foster 58). He says that readers look for the familiar in a story. Once they recognize the similarities, they can better understand the plot.

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