How To Read Novels Like A Professor Summary

The first chapter of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Pickup Lines and Open(ing) Seductions”. This chapter is about how imperative it is that the opening pages of the novel are persuasive. If the beginning of the novel does not entice the reader then they will not continue investing their time and energy into it. Even the very first line of a novel plays a major role in seducing the reader. The opening line is like a hook, it invites the reader in and gives them foresight on what is to come in the future. This chapter is also about how the first page of a novel can tell the reader everything they need to know to read it. The author does this by including the style, tone, mood, diction, point of view, narrative presence, narrative attitude, time frame, time

management, place, motif, theme, irony, rhythm, pace, expectations, character, and instructions on how to read a novel.
The second chapter of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ You Can’t Breathe Where the Air is Clear”. This chapter is about how the setting of the novel is not a place where humans can live, even though it may seem very realistic. The author can provide streets or addresses but it will never be a place where the reader can be. The setting is a representation of the author’s perception of it. The characters in the story should only inhabit the setting. It is the characters world, not the readers. But the reader does get to participate in the creation of the fictional world by filling in the gaps in the description given to them.
The third chapter of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “Who’s in Charge Here?”. This chapter is about different types of narration and why the narration of the novel is important. The different types of viewpoints are third person omniscient, third person limited, third person objective, stream of consciousness, second person, first person central, and first person secondary. Different viewpoints work best for different types of stories. For example, third people limited or objective are used most in mysteries. But novelists are not limited to using just one type of narration in their novels. It is important to the reader to identify the narration being used because it determines their relationship with the story and how involved or removed they feel from it.
The fifth chapter of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ A Still, Small Voice (or a Great, Galumphing One)”. This chapter talks about how voice is used and why it is important. Voice is the tone and style that is unique to the book or author. There can be many different voices in one novel, which can cause confusion to the reader. So to avoid the confusion the author has to keep the voices sorted out. The voices the readers tend to notice the most are those close to the character. Voice is a significant part of a novel because it changes how the story is being told. The way a story is told is just as important as the story itself.
The sixth chapter of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Men (and Women) Made out of Words, or My Pip Ain’t Like Your Pip”. This chapter is about why readers are so invested in fictional stories and how different readers do not perceive the story the same. Readers become so invested in the stories they read because they become involved with the character and become gullible, allowing them to experience the same emotions as the characters do. The readers know that what they are reading is not real but they respond to it as if it was. Also readers understand the story differently than other readers. Everyone is unique so they have a unique way of interpreting the information the story gives them. For example, people may debate on what character acts or looks like because they interpreted the story differently.
Chapter 13 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Drowning in a Stream of Consciousness”.

This chapter talks about the stream of consciousness and why it its important. A stream of consciousness is a literary style that is used when an author wants to describe a characters thoughts and feelings in a continuous flow. The first time it was used was by Edouard Dujardin in an interior monologue, which is an unspoken monologue. Stream of consciousness is important because its techniques have inspired other novelists. It also gave writers an understanding of the mind that no other technique had ever done before. Without stream of consciousness narratives would be unoriginal, and simple.

Chapter 15 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Fiction about Fiction”. This chapter talks about metafiction. Metafiction is fiction that describes a work of fiction. Other novels inspire all novelists and novels. This is very similar to metafiction novels. Metafiction novels can be rewrites of classics or reusing earlier forms. Metafiction novels are important because they are fresh, new, and fun. Metafiction teaches the reader about the nature of fiction and what to expect from

them.
Chapter 16 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Source Codes and Recycling Bins”. This chapter is about how authors get the ideas for their novels. Novelists obtain their ideas from personal experiences. Examples of personal experiences can be observations, history, or family gatherings. They also can get their ideas from other novelists and novels. Novelists may use other narratives as inspiration form their literary works as long as they do not plagiarize. When novelists use personal experiences to inspire their work it makes the story seem honest even though it is not real.
Chapter 17 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Improbabilities: Foundlings and Magi, Colonels and Boy Wizards”. This chapter is about how the novel allows the reader to become apart of the story. The reader experiences the characters life. This allows the reader to identify with the characters and begin to have an emotional attachment to them. The reader should feel like they are in the characters world when they are reading the novel. Reading captivates people because it allows them to escape reality for a little while. If a reader did not have that kind of bond with the characters and the story then they would not continue investing their time into reading the novel.
Chapter 18 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ What’s the Big Idea-or Even the Small One?”. This chapter is about the big and small ideas in the novel. There is always one big idea in a novel demanding all the attention. Thomas C. Foster, the author of How to Read Novels like a Professor, says the big ideas are “ What does it mean to be human?” and “How do we conduct our lives to the best effect?”. Also this chapter talks about Philosophy. The Law of Fictional Ideation states that it does not matter how good the idea is if the story is shoddy. In How to Read Novels like a Professor its says, “ For many readers, the novel is as close as well ever come to philosophy”(Foster 249).
Chapter 19 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Who Broke My Novel?” . This chapter is about different way novels can be told. According to Thomas C. Foster, novels stopped being told in a linear narrative after the war. That may have happened because authors wanted a new writing technique. Also nonlinear replaced linear narrative style because linear novels do not leave the reader wanting more, it gives the reader all the answers, which is boring. However, the Law of Narrative Unity states that the most effective way to arrange a novel is the way that makes the most sense for that book.
Chapter 22 of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ Conspiracy Theory”. This chapter is about how fiction is a conspiracy between the author and reader’s minds and imaginations. The writer creates the novel but without the readers imagination the story cannot be finished. One has no meaning without the other. The writer also needs a audience. Without an audience the novel has no purpose. Also the novel needs to interactive for the reader. In order for the relationship between a writer and reader to work the reader needs to follow the Law for All Reading: own the novels you read. The reader needs to make the work theirs.
The Conclusion of How to Read Novels like a Professor is called “ The Never Ending Journey”. This chapter is about how the journey of reading novels will last forever. There will always be new authors who write new books, which create new ideas. Books are something that will never go away because people need them to entertain them and give them knowledge. The best part about novels is that there will be something that you have not read before. They will always be interesting. My favorite quote from the conclusion and from the whole book by Thomas C. Foster is when he said “ So be forewarned: this path leads to nowhere and everywhere, and it goes on forever”.
Second Assignment
The chapter from How to Read Novels like a Professor that relates to the novel Every Day is chapter 17. In this chapter the author explained the concept the reader should feel like they are apart of the story. As said by Thomas C. Foster, “ But in the novel, we can become those characters, we can identify with someone whose life is radically different from our own”. The reader should be able to feel the same emotions as the character and be able to feel like they are experiencing everything with them. If the reader is not feeling like they are the character and that they are living in that made up world then they are not attached to the story. The reader should not feel like himself or herself when they are reading. They should feel like they traveled to a different place and became a different person.
I feel like this relates to Every Day because during my experience as a reader I really felt like I was A. While reading it felt as if I was on the same emotional rollercoaster. I was constantly captivated by A’s story and I really felt like I could identify with the character even though I have never experienced what A is going through. For example, when Rhiannon decided not take a break from A I felt the same sadness he did even though Rhiannon is not real and I have no feelings for her. Another time I felt like I was in the story was when Nathan started to contact A. I started to feel so nervous and afraid even though Nathan was not coming after me. As said in How to Read Novels like a Professor, “ Part of the allure of the novel lies in it ability to draw us into unfamiliar spaces and improbable lives, to let us become people we are not, if only for a little while” (Foster 229).