Literary Analysis Tips & Tricks

Take Your Time!!

Some books are a heavy read and can be a bit confusing to comprehend.

In my humble opinion, some books needs to be read like one enjoys a bottle of fine wine- Take your time.

Tips on reading difficult passages and books:

You will want to take your time, savor the words, concepts and claims in the book.

You may feel like you need a PhD to understand some of the thirty-dollar words. This is another reason why taking your time while be worth your while. Write down words or concepts that you aren't sure of the meaning. Then look up the words.

There are nuggets of gold in most books, but you must be diligent in pulling them out and dusting them off. Read the section. Then set the book down. Think about what you just read. Can you think of anything that ties to your life or the society in which you may live? Is there any particular passage that jumps out at you? Can you identify why?

Let the book and the passage or section set awhile before going back to it. Let the ideas and your response to them marinate. Then come back and ask yourself what’s the most important part of the work and why. There is where your analysis begins.

Reader Response Theory by Wolfgang Iser (1950s)

Having said that, Wolfgang Iser wrote that a reader's literary Analysis says more about the reader and their time and place than what the author meant when they wrote the book. So what does that even mean?

It means that if you read a book that was written 100 years ago or even 25years ago, they way you understand the book says more about your life and your time and place in society than a reader from that time. For example, If I read a book that is 200 years old, I am reading it from my lived experience. Someone who read the book 100 or even 200 years ago was reading it from their lived experience. They might have a completely different understanding and analysis than me.

Symbology and literary analysis changes with each reader. Ten people can read the same book and each person may have a completely different experience. The experience of each reader is what is important for Iser. Iser claims the meaning is not in the object or text being read; rather, it is how the reader connects their own lived experience with the text they are reading. Ever read a book that you thought was bland and mediocre while your best friend thought the book was the greatest thing they ever read? Both can be true. This is reader response theory in a nutshell.