From Foster: Yes, this will be on the test.

"What happens if the writer is good is usually not that the work seems derivative or trivial but just the opposite: the work actually acquires depth and resonance from the echoes and chimes it sets up with prior texts" (Foster 187).


Listed below are the salient points I want to make sure you know and can apply from the first 24 chapters of Foster's book, taken chapter by chapter.

Intro: Faustian Bargain, ***memory/symbol/pattern***
Ch. 1: major elements of the quest, inc. the real reason vs. the ostensible reason
Ch. 2: significance of food and drink/breaking bread together
Ch. 3: significance of vampires and ghosts, and essential elements of these stories
Ch. 4: basic elements of the sonnet form, lines, stanzas, shape, and the sentence as the basic unit of poetry
Ch. 5: what Foster means when he asserts that there's "only one story."
Ch. 6: significance of Shakespeare in literary allusions
Ch. 7: significance of The Bible in literary allusions, along with major examples
Ch. 8: literary canon and importance of fairy tales, esp. Hansel and Gretel
Ch. 9: the meaning of 'myth' and the widespread misconception about its meaning
Ch.10: importance/meaning of specific elements of weather and water, Fisher King mythology

--Interlude: What does Foster say about writers and intentionality?

Ch.11: violence and its importance on literal and symbolic levels
Ch.12: symbolism--and when it is and isn't universal
Ch.13: Foster's opinion of political writing and his reasons for this opinion
Ch.14: the importance of Christianity and the Christ figure in Western literature
Ch.15: significance of flight and a couple of examples of the flight myth; importance of IRONY
Ch.18: meaning of a character's being submerged in water and coming back out--or not
Ch.19: geography's importance in characterization, theme, symbol, plot, etc.; meaning of "heading south"
Ch.20: use of seasons to strengthen a work-- either predictably or ironically/unexpectedly

--Interlude II: So how many stories are there? And what is/are it/they?
IMPORTANT: be able to define 'intertextuality' and 'archetype' and give examples of the latter.

Ch. 21: the frequency and significance of physical or psychological differences (freq. in the form of a disability) in characters throughout literature--and several examples
Ch. 22: Oedipus myth and significance of sight and blindness, whether metaphorical or literal; importance of darkness and light; the importance of a writer's early introduction of particular facets of a story or traits of a character
Ch. 23: the importance of the heart/heart ailments in literature
Ch. 24: importance of other physical ailments and diseases, and why authors choose particular ones over others; a couple of examples of "choice" illnesses for writers