My Independent Reading

I just started reading "How To read Like a Literature Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. On the one hand, it's yet another example for me of how I'm not really a literature professor, because in the first 50 pages Foster pointed out at least four connections to works that I've taught -- that I'm supposedly an expert in -- that I hadn't seen before.  The more I read, the more I see how comical it was that I ever thought I knew anything about literature.  Now, of course, I'm an expert.  Right?  Now I see the connection between Fugard's Master Harold, (known as Hally) and Shakespeare's Henry V (known as Hal).  I also recognize Joyce's allusions to Adam and Eve's banishment from the garden of Eden in his short story, Araby -- which I always loved and never understood before. While it might be a little sad to recognize that I have taught books and NOT read them "like a professor," I also think it good to know that NOW I can make those connections and help students to see the fun in recognizing links from story to story.