What does Foster mean when he says "There's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature" (24)? Use the word "intertextuality," discussed in this chapter, in your post. (Chapter 4) (50 words)
Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains how all works of literature are essentially the same. Foster vindicates that, “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24). All literature has the same basic lay out so it is all really just the same story. Writers look at other works of literature to find inspiration, ideas, and history which they intertwine into their work. Fosters states that, “intertextuality [is] the ongoing interaction between poems or stories” (Foster 29), and that this type of, “dialogue deepens and enriches the reading experience, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the text” (Foster 29). Intertextuality is when old texts are used in new texts by the use of direct quotations or a reference to the old work by utilizing a similar and unique feature found in the old work. This practice relates all works of literature even crossing genre lines to enhance the significance of a scene because of its correlation to something else in literature. The author provides an example of this in, “Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato” (Foster 24), where, “his characters fall through a hole in the road [and] not only that, one of the characters subsequently says that the way to get out is to fall back up” (Foster 25), and that automatically leads the reader to think, “falling through a hole is like Alice in Wonderland” (Foster 25). By using the falling through a hole idea from Alice in Wonderland the author relates the journey of the soldiers to that of Alice’s. This provides the reader with the feeling that the characters falling will encounter a world alternate to the one just left which creates foreshadowing. Utilizing the work of one writer’s work in a different writer’s work allows the latter writer to create a deeper meaning by using that other piece of work because essentially no literature is completely original.
Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains how all works of literature are essentially the same. Foster confirms that, “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24). All literature has the same basic layout so it is all really just the same story. Writers look at other works of literature to find inspiration, ideas, and history which they intertwine into their work. Fosters states that, “intertextuality [is] the ongoing interaction between poems or stories,” and that this type of, “dialogue deepens and enriches the reading experience, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the text” (Foster 29). Intertextuality is when old texts are used in new texts by the use of direct quotations or a reference to the old work by utilizing a similar and unique feature found in the old work. This practice relates all works of literature even crossing genre lines to enhance the significance of a scene because of its correlation to something else in literature. The author provides an example of this in, “Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato,” where, “his characters fall through a hole in the road [and] not only that, one of the characters subsequently says that the way to get out is to fall back up,” and that automatically leads the reader to think, “falling through a hole is like Alice in Wonderland” (Foster 24, 25). By using the falling through a hole idea from Alice in Wonderland the author relates the journey of the soldiers to that of Alice’s. This provides the reader with the feeling that the characters falling will encounter a world alternate to the one just left which creates foreshadowing. Utilizing the work of one writer’s work in a different writer’s work allows the latter writer to create a deeper meaning by using that other piece of work because essentially no literature is completely original.
By Webster's definition intertextuality means "the complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as a basic to the oration or interpretation of the text." Thomas C. Foster simplifies this with this simple statement: "There is only one story." One story lays the backbone for all other stories which becomes bluntly obvious when comparing books Foster compares "Alice in Wonderland" with "Cacciato" making the point that even within different genres the overall layout of the stones remain quite similar. This is true among many other stories as well. Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" tells of a young woman who desires a new life. She wishes to break free of the world of obligation where she has to maintain what's expected of her. In short she wants to be in A Whole New World. Sound familiar? Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" also wishes to escape the world. She lives in where she's expected to be a perfect princess. Though these two stories are different genres as well as portray two young women in separate situations, they maintain the same general story. Another example is when Brutus from Julius Caesar is convinced by the townspeople that his best friend is not fit for the crown. Brutus falls into temptation in the same way that is told in the very first story, "The Garden of Eden." In this case Brutus is Eve, the townspeople portray Devil and Caesar is the forbidden fruit. " All this resembling other literature is well and good, but what does it mean for our reading? (Foster 33). Simply knowing intertextuality exists is great, but when its spotted in a text, the reader is able to draw conclusions based upon it. Foster refers to this as the "aha moment." Intertextuality can be useful if only one remembers to use it their advantage.
In Thomas Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” he goes into detail on how all works, in some way, shape, or form, borrow elements from previous works throughout history. Early on in the chapter, Foster brings forth the statement that “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature,” (Foster 24). When authors learn to read and write, they do so by reading other works from hundreds of different authors and origins; fiction, nonfiction, historical, fantasy, sci-fi, all different forms of literature. While each author may have their own style, they have undoubtedly incorporated at least some types of different styles, ideas, characters, or events from previous literature into their own works. Foster later on simply puts that “there’s only one story. There, I said it and I can’t very well take it back. There is only one story. Ever. One. It’s always been going on and it’s everywhere around us and every story you’ve ever read or heard or watched is part of it,” (Foster 27). Similar to Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Foster explains that there is one, ever growing collective story that began long ago. When new tales are created, the only add to the monuments in the grand scheme of everything; people take elements from the ultimate story and use them to create aspects to add to the story, through form of their own works. Foster explains these interactions with old and new stories as intertextuality: “the ongoing interaction between poems or stories,” (Foster 29) generally referring to newer works interacting with older ones. Intertextuality deals with stories displaying elements of, or even outright quoting older texts in newer works. When someone references Shakespeare or a character greatly resembles that of a character from an older story, that is intertextuality. No matter how original a story may seem, there will be elements from previous from older works; however, it’s the crafty ways that they are used that can make a story quite extraordinary.
Thomas C. Foster in "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" describes how many pieces of literature are made up of stories or history already seen. He states "there's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature" (Foster 24). Foster begins to provide examples of characters and story lines that have been written about before. He connects the idea of intertextuality, which he describes as "the ongoing interaction between poems or stories" (Foster 29). He believes "there's only one story" (Foster 27). He is explaining how all stories are made up from past reads or historical facts and once readers notice the connections, their "understanding of the novel deepens and becomes more meaningful, more complex" (Foster 31). Foster provides insight on how reading more stories will give the reader better understanding of the book because they can make connections throughout the one big big story.
Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains how all works of literature are essentially the same. Foster vindicates that, “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24). All literature has the same basic lay out so it is all really just the same story. Writers look at other works of literature to find inspiration, ideas, and history which they intertwine into their work. Fosters states that, “intertextuality [is] the ongoing interaction between poems or stories” (Foster 29), and that this type of, “dialogue deepens and enriches the reading experience, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the text” (Foster 29). Intertextuality is when old texts are used in new texts by the use of direct quotations or a reference to the old work by utilizing a similar and unique feature found in the old work. This practice relates all works of literature even crossing genre lines to enhance the significance of a scene because of its correlation to something else in literature. The author provides an example of this in, “Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato” (Foster 24), where, “his characters fall through a hole in the road [and] not only that, one of the characters subsequently says that the way to get out is to fall back up” (Foster 25), and that automatically leads the reader to think, “falling through a hole is like Alice in Wonderland” (Foster 25). By using the falling through a hole idea from Alice in Wonderland the author relates the journey of the soldiers to that of Alice’s. This provides the reader with the feeling that the characters falling will encounter a world alternate to the one just left which creates foreshadowing. Utilizing the work of one writer’s work in a different writer’s work allows the latter writer to create a deeper meaning by using that other piece of work because essentially no literature is completely original.
ReplyDelete1) vindicates is awkward in its use here
Delete2) layout is one word
3) Put all citations at the very end of the sentence.
Thomas C. Foster in, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” explains how all works of literature are essentially the same. Foster confirms that, “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24). All literature has the same basic layout so it is all really just the same story. Writers look at other works of literature to find inspiration, ideas, and history which they intertwine into their work. Fosters states that, “intertextuality [is] the ongoing interaction between poems or stories,” and that this type of, “dialogue deepens and enriches the reading experience, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the text” (Foster 29). Intertextuality is when old texts are used in new texts by the use of direct quotations or a reference to the old work by utilizing a similar and unique feature found in the old work. This practice relates all works of literature even crossing genre lines to enhance the significance of a scene because of its correlation to something else in literature. The author provides an example of this in, “Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato,” where, “his characters fall through a hole in the road [and] not only that, one of the characters subsequently says that the way to get out is to fall back up,” and that automatically leads the reader to think, “falling through a hole is like Alice in Wonderland” (Foster 24, 25). By using the falling through a hole idea from Alice in Wonderland the author relates the journey of the soldiers to that of Alice’s. This provides the reader with the feeling that the characters falling will encounter a world alternate to the one just left which creates foreshadowing. Utilizing the work of one writer’s work in a different writer’s work allows the latter writer to create a deeper meaning by using that other piece of work because essentially no literature is completely original.
Deleteperfect - thanks
DeleteBy Webster's definition intertextuality means "the complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as a basic to the oration or interpretation of the text." Thomas C. Foster simplifies this with this simple statement: "There is only one story." One story lays the backbone for all other stories which becomes bluntly obvious when comparing books Foster compares "Alice in Wonderland" with "Cacciato" making the point that even within different genres the overall layout of the stones remain quite similar. This is true among many other stories as well. Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" tells of a young woman who desires a new life. She wishes to break free of the world of obligation where she has to maintain what's expected of her. In short she wants to be in A Whole New World. Sound familiar? Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" also wishes to escape the world. She lives in where she's expected to be a perfect princess. Though these two stories are different genres as well as portray two young women in separate situations, they maintain the same general story. Another example is when Brutus from Julius Caesar is convinced by the townspeople that his best friend is not fit for the crown. Brutus falls into temptation in the same way that is told in the very first story, "The Garden of Eden." In this case Brutus is Eve, the townspeople portray Devil and Caesar is the forbidden fruit. " All this resembling other literature is well and good, but what does it mean for our reading? (Foster 33). Simply knowing intertextuality exists is great, but when its spotted in a text, the reader is able to draw conclusions based upon it. Foster refers to this as the "aha moment." Intertextuality can be useful if only one remembers to use it their advantage.
ReplyDeleteRefer back to the Summer Reading Assignment Paragraph Structure requirements and redo all posts that do not adhere to guidelines including this one.
DeleteIn Thomas Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” he goes into detail on how all works, in some way, shape, or form, borrow elements from previous works throughout history. Early on in the chapter, Foster brings forth the statement that “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature,” (Foster 24). When authors learn to read and write, they do so by reading other works from hundreds of different authors and origins; fiction, nonfiction, historical, fantasy, sci-fi, all different forms of literature. While each author may have their own style, they have undoubtedly incorporated at least some types of different styles, ideas, characters, or events from previous literature into their own works. Foster later on simply puts that “there’s only one story. There, I said it and I can’t very well take it back. There is only one story. Ever. One. It’s always been going on and it’s everywhere around us and every story you’ve ever read or heard or watched is part of it,” (Foster 27). Similar to Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Foster explains that there is one, ever growing collective story that began long ago. When new tales are created, the only add to the monuments in the grand scheme of everything; people take elements from the ultimate story and use them to create aspects to add to the story, through form of their own works. Foster explains these interactions with old and new stories as intertextuality: “the ongoing interaction between poems or stories,” (Foster 29) generally referring to newer works interacting with older ones. Intertextuality deals with stories displaying elements of, or even outright quoting older texts in newer works. When someone references Shakespeare or a character greatly resembles that of a character from an older story, that is intertextuality. No matter how original a story may seem, there will be elements from previous from older works; however, it’s the crafty ways that they are used that can make a story quite extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteGreat! One thing - one of your citations is not at the end of the sentence. Don't forget this.
DeleteThomas C. Foster in "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" describes how many pieces of literature are made up of stories or history already seen. He states "there's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature" (Foster 24). Foster begins to provide examples of characters and story lines that have been written about before. He connects the idea of intertextuality, which he describes as "the ongoing interaction between poems or stories" (Foster 29). He believes "there's only one story" (Foster 27). He is explaining how all stories are made up from past reads or historical facts and once readers notice the connections, their "understanding of the novel deepens and becomes more meaningful, more complex" (Foster 31). Foster provides insight on how reading more stories will give the reader better understanding of the book because they can make connections throughout the one big big story.
ReplyDeleteThis works.
Delete