In How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster,
chapter 4 poses a compelling and unique idea, which I agree with completely.
His theory is that there is no such thing as an original piece of work, but
that all writers feed off of their experiences and other works, which were
written by people who have fed off of other works, etc., and it just keeps
going around and around in this great big cycle of creativity.
One of my favorite examples of this
idea is The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. When I began these books originally, I had no idea
that they were based off of anything, but shortly after starting into the first
novel, I had that “aha!” moment that Foster describes. Reading it now, its very
obvious to see that C.S. Lewis based his books off of stories from the Bible,
most namely the crucifixion. In the books, the true king of Narnia, Aslan,
voluntarily sacrifices himself to the White Witch in order to save the life of
Edmund, who betrayed his siblings and Aslan himself. In the Bible, we see how
Jesus voluntarily gave his life “for all [those who] have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God.” Now, I don’t
want to get into anyone’s religious affiliation, but the Bible was in fact
based on history, to whatever extent you choose to believe. Foster also
mentions that history itself is a story, which brings us back to the original
point: there is only one story, huge and all encompassing. But it doesn’t
always have to be such an obvious and overt allusion to another piece of
literature like we see with Carol. When I saw the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for the first time, (which admittedly was
not that long ago) the main character Ferris reminded me of Holden Caulfield
from The Catcher in the Rye. Both
aren’t swayed by society’s views of them, and they view the world through very
honest and somewhat cynical perspectives. Albeit, Holden handles his situation
a little differently than Ferris, ultimately getting checked into a mental
hospital, but you get the idea.
Writers pull from their
experiences, which hopefully include a lot of reading, if they truly want to be
good. Whether they realize it or not, by drawing from their lives, they are
actually drawing from the lives of others, which has manifested into the works
that they have read or studied. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing by any
means, but it actually allows us to develop a deeper appreciation for a text as
it becomes more complex. When we can make connections to other works we are
already familiar with, it substantially increases our engagement and allows us
to draw a more personal meaning.
Now, if you’re like me, however,
and you haven’t read as much as other people, and you may not see those
connections as easily, Foster makes an analogy that basically boils down to one
thing: the more you practice, the easier it gets. The more you read, the bigger
your database of sources becomes that you can make connections to. Even if you
don’t have the wealth of knowledge that comes from reading, the worst thing that
can happen is that you’ve read something interesting at face value, and have
stored it to use in the future as a source of connections to the next piece you
read.
