Comments on: Literary Analysis: Metaphysics?

By: swansont

swansont — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:12:44 +0000

Amen to that. “Pin the tail on the author’s deeper message” always bugged me about English class. I find that people do it with cartoons, too — they’ve erroneously told me how clever or stupid I am, based on their interpretation of what I must have meant. I even had an English professor do it, and get it wrong, for a political cartoon I did in grad school. (the irony was delicious, btw)

By: Cap'n Refsmmat

Cap'n Refsmmat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:24:18 +0000

Perhaps.

But then we reach the deeper question: what exactly do I gain from writing about my thoughts when I read the book, if not a deeper understanding of the author’s thoughts?

By: ecoli

ecoli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:15:12 +0000

so just think of it in terms of my way… and if your assignment is about what the author was thinking, just say what you think, and write “the author thought…” They really want your thoughts, anyway.

By: Cap'n Refsmmat

Cap'n Refsmmat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:04:24 +0000

The trouble is that I’m seeing a lot of the “what the author was thinking” stuff. I guess you’ve had better professors.

By: ecoli

ecoli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:42:58 +0000

I’ve brought up similar issues with english professors, their response (which I find respectable) is that we’re not interested in deeper literary analysis in terms of what the author was thinking. Unless the author has explicitly stated, this is obviously impossible. But, deeper literary analysis in terms of how you personally feel, or what a literary work means to you.

Last year, I wrote a paper paralleling and comparing Frankenstein and his monster with the greek God Prometheus. This has been done before, many times, but I think I found some parallels other analyzers haven’t seen before (at least not to my knowledge). I would up getting an A in the class, so I think I did something right. Anyway, I never talked about what Shelley thought the characters represented, only what I thought they represented.

And, if an author doesn’t like how other people interpret his characters? That’s tough… It’s what happens all the time in art.

btw… I’ll give you a hug if you add me to your blogroll.