Archetype Analysis in How to Read Literature Like a Professor

The word archetype means the original type from which other copies are produced. It has different meanings within different contexts—for example, psychology or philosophy—but in literary analysis it refers to the shared understanding of certain types created through myth. For example, thanks to ancient myths and subsequent literary traditions, we have a shared understanding the archetype of the “hero.” Elements of literature (like characters) that seem particularly close to this original form are then referred to as “archetypical.”

Archetype Quotes in How to Read Literature Like a Professor

The How to Read Literature Like a Professor quotes below are all either spoken by Archetype or refer to Archetype. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Surface Reading vs. Deeper Reading Theme Icon

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Memory. Symbol. Pattern. These are the three items that, more than any other, separate the professorial reader from the rest of the crowd.

Page Number and Citation: xxvii

Explanation and Analysis:

Foster has introduced the concept of the “language of reading” and explained that this analytic, deep form of reading will improve the experience of reading literature. In the next section of the introduction, Foster argues that memory, symbol, and pattern are the three most important aspects that “separate the professorial reader from the rest of the crowd.” Note that “memory” and “pattern” are other ways of referring to the concepts of archetype and intertextuality, which Foster has not yet introduced. Of course, all of these literary devices and reading techniques are deeply implicated in each other. Skilled readers use their Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi.

There is only one story. Ever. One. It's always been going on and it's everywhere around us and every story you've ever read or heard or watched is part of it.

Related Symbols: The One Story

Page Number and Citation: 27

Explanation and Analysis:

Foster has explained that reading literature involves identifying characters that are versions of characters from other literary works (these are archetypes, although Foster doesn’t use that word explicitly here). The reason why these characters appear over and over is because “no work of literature is wholly original.” As Foster explains in this passage, all works of literature are inherently interrelated because “there is only one story,” and every literary text is a part of it. Foster goes on to show that this doesn’t mean there is only one plot, and that every work of literature is a variation on this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut

Don't bother looking for the originals, though. You can't find the archetype, just as you can't find the pure myths. What we have, even in our earliest recorded literature, are variants, embellishments, versions, what Frye called "displacement" of the myth.

Related Symbols: The One Story

Page Number and Citation: 199

Explanation and Analysis:

Foster has now explicitly introduced the concept of archetype, showing how the term was first used in a literary context by the critic Northrop Frye. Archetypes are the original models upon which variations are produced. In this passage, Foster explains that “archetype” functions more as a concept than a literal “original” that can be found in some first myth or other early work of literature. Indeed, one of the defining aspects of myth is the fact that we almost never determine for sure when and where they originated; we may identify the earliest version that we know of, but that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. I

We—as readers or writers, tellers or listeners—understand each other, we share knowledge of the structures of our myths, we comprehend the logic of symbols, largely because we have access to the same swirl of story.

Related Symbols: The One Story

Page Number and Citation: 200

Explanation and Analysis:

Having outlined the terms “archetype” and “intertextuality,” Foster explains how these concepts are related to one another, and to the idea of the “one story.” Rather than being a single narrative, the one story is closer to the network of literature that is all connected through intertextuality. It is this network (or overarching “swirl of story”) that makes it possible for us to identify familiar structures and symbols and interpret their meaning. Note the way that Foster evokes a community of “readers… writers, tellers or listeners” who all participate in the creation, consumption, and comprehension of the one story. Indeed, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Pro

Archetype Term Timeline in How to Read Literature Like a Professor

The timeline below shows where the term Archetype appears in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...to make the deal and sell his soul to the devil. Hansberry thus employs an archetypical storyline but adds her own twist. (full context)

...all works of literature can be enjoyed in their own right. Identification of patterns and archetypes can thus be thought of as a “bonus.” Understanding intertextual gestures, parallels, and archetypes enriches... (full context)

...modern era is almost always laced with irony. At the same time, certain fairy tale archetypes seem perfectly suited to the modern world, such as children who’ve wandered far from home.... (full context)

...of writers who we know made conscious choices in the way they including symbolic, intertextual, archetypical, and ironic meaning; these are called the “Intentionalists,” and many were part of the modernist... (full context)

Foster then introduces another analytical term: archetype. An archetype is an image, gesture, figure, or idea that is repeated and modified and... (full context)

Archetype Term Analysis

Archetype Quotes in How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Introduction Quotes

Chapter 4 Quotes

Interlude: One Story Quotes

Archetype Term Timeline in How to Read Literature Like a Professor