Close Reading 9/18

"Drives you crazy, doesn't it? When they’re writing about other things, they really mean sex, and when
they write about sex, they really mean something else. If they write about sex and mean strictly sex, we
have a word for that. Pornography"  (Foster 144).

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster dedicates two entire chapters just to sex. He talks about how when authors write about other things, they really mean sex, and when they talk about sex, they are really talking about other things. In both areas, there are certain symbols that are shown. These symbols are not always obvious and take some thinking. Obviously, this can be quite confusing. Why do writers not say what they mean? Why do they have to use a symbol for things that they can write?

As Foster then proceeds to explain, when a writer wants to talk about sex, there are only so many options to talk about the actual act. They do not have very man options. And many times, it is quite embarrassing or uncomfortable for the author to write about the act. So, the author will use other things, like tunnels, and trains, and bowls, to explain the act. And then it is up to the reader to figure it out. Many authors tend to use similar things so a pattern forms for when an author decides to talk about sex without really talking about it.

In addition, authors will also use sex as a way to show defiance or rebellion in many books. When an author is actually writing about sex, he does not want it to be taken just that way. He wants the reader to realize that he is writing about sex for some other reason. He wants the reader to see the real purpose behind him talking directly about the act. This can sometimes be better than actually telling the reader exactly what he means. Symbols offer the reader a challenge and the need to delve deep into a text. Sexual symbols can either mean sex or something entirely different, but it is up to the reader to determine what it means and how it relates to the overall work of literature.

And as Foster jokes at the end of this small piece of the chapter, when an author just writes about sex, it is pornography. He does this jokingly because a write almost never just talks about sex just to talk about it, unless it is E.L. James where there is an exception. There is always another meaning, and authors want that meaning to be found. Sex for the most part was always something sacred, and authors will use it for many different reasons, which the author has to figure out. But, sex is never just sex.