Literary Devices in "How to Read Literature Like a Professor"

     The writing style of Thomas C. Foster in his How to Read Literature Like a Professor differed from other books I have read in that he used light humor and tended to ask questions followed by answers to move topics forward.  I found he incorporated many humorous lines throughout the book, but I especially found the titles of each chapter to be fun and lighthearted.  For example, Foster used ellipses for some consecutive chapters to show that he was continuing the same general thought, but changing the specific topic.  The titles were also funny and did not just state what the chapter was about.  One of my favorite titles was “When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare…” and the chapter following it, “…Or the Bible.”  As I said before, Foster asked a lot of questions in the book and answered them, which I found very helpful.  It made the book understandable and easy to read.  I never found myself getting lost in what Foster was trying to get at, and I believe it was because he anticipated what questions the reader was thinking about, and simply answered it in the next paragraph.  Similarly, Foster put the main points of the book in bold.  I was able to remember them better and if I needed to, I could easily flip back a few chapters to find them.  Both of these literary devices that Foster used made this book very reader friendly, but the one downside I found was that I was not familiar with many of the books he referenced.  I was able to recognize his main message, but I felt like I had a lack of examples that I understood.  The fact that I was able to understand the main points though, made me realize that Foster did an excellent job of making what seemed to be a lot of thought and attention to detail in a book seem so simple and easy.  He made this book so that younger people could read and understand it too, and I feel like that is not typical for a book written by an English professor.  Overall, I did enjoy the book primarily because of Foster’s humor and how he clearly presented his thoughts, sometimes even in bold. 


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