How do I analyse references and metaphors an author makes in

look at abstract art
watch artsy happenings
abstraction is key
you must have a low iq

>>8605337
You just fucking make it up like that teacher did. Make a connection between two points in their work, and then make your argument for why that connection exists as ridiculous as possible. The more ridiculous it is the smarter you look.

>>8605440
>>8605432
You are mocking me. I know it's part of the culture but seriously,even if the teacher was full of bullshit what happens when I don't get the underlying message of the story by myself? Do I read the critics? Discuss it here? Or just spinning the ideas in my head like I'm used to?
Also,I thought literature as a form of art is made to evoke feelings instead of intellectual realizations,so my IQ doesn't have anything to do with it,I want to believe.

>>8605470
I'm not mocking you at all. That kind of meta-analysis is horseshit and people just make it up.

>>8605504
Is this ironic advice? I don't even know anymore.I'll take it as an act of good faith and give it a read,thank you.

>>8605497
So you are saying that the author doesn't really mean anything,we just speculate on whatever we want to talk about and connect it with the book.

>>8605511
It's more like speculate, then explain your reasoning. Then take it or leave it. There are some techniques like close reading you should be doing already.

>what happens when I don't get the underlying message of the story by myself?

Only by knowing Borges personally could anyone have understood something like your example in the OP without reading critical analyses.

>if I don't get it naturally?

Again, no one does. Certain references will go unnoticed if you aren't familiar with what is being referenced (Classical Greek literature for example, or, as in a lot of what Borges wrote, the Kabbalah)

>Do I read the critics?

It can be helpful.

>Discuss it here?

You've got better options, but, sure, that can also help.

>Or just spinning the ideas in my head like I'm used to?

Also useful, but up to a point (depends on how much and what kind of literature you're familiar with, but there's plenty in Borges that is profoundly insightful and not necessarily referential).

>I thought literature as a form of art is made to evoke feelings instead of intellectual realizations

The latter can (and often, in my experience, does) accompany the former.

>so my IQ doesn't have anything to do with it,I want to believe

It doesn't, unless you are concerned with "intellectual realizations."

>>8605470
If there is one artform for intellectual realization, it's literature.

>>8605522
I'll combine them all then,that should work for me.

>>8605530
Is symbolism a subject of mental capabilities? (I hope I translated it alright,because it would be a disaster otherwise)

>>8605511
More or less yeah. Reach a conclusion that sounds profound, then dig through their work for things you can use to support said conclusion.

>>8605565
Does it really matter if it's true or not? If it's a valid point outside of the context you at least proposed a good topic of discussion ,right?

>>8605577

Depends. For whom are you arguing your idea?

If it's just for your own betterment, then it may not matter so much what is 'true.' Unless you are personally devoted understanding what that means.

If you're going to be proposing an idea to other people, then you have to better able to defend what you think is 'true.'

>>8605623
No,please,I thought this board was saved from vulgarity.

Read secondary sources. If while reading the primary source you're not developing your own idea of it's meaning and context, secondary sources will help you understand the possible genesis and intention of the work (via form, historical context, the writer's biography, etc).

Your teacher couldn't have made that connection if he didn't know about Borges' life or related history. He learned that information by looking it up or stumbling onto it while looking up something else. That's how it is: you cultivate your ability to analyze literature by reading it, reading about it, and applying what you learn. As you do, you grow your own bank of references to the point where it can sustain spontaneous analysis while reading the primary source. But never to the point where you'll never have to read a secondary source. It's not a mystical process.

>>8605337
What you have to realize is that kind of analysis is optional. It's not like you have to go hunting for every single reference's meaning in every text you read. As you read more and more it'll be possible for you to make your own connections like that. The most important thing about your teacher explaining that was directing you and the other students to a way of conducting an analysis. the thought processes of millennials are so one dimensional that these kind of analyses come as a revelation.

read stuff about the author, the time and place the work was created in and about the tradition it comes from.

And you think that the teacher found that out by himself?

There are two ways. Either you very intensely study the work of an author, his biography and the works that influenced him and anything else related to him. Or you read theories of those that did. Of course you can still snatch up intuitive insight, even have a perspective on things that denies the established one, but if you want to analyse all the shit that happens in a story you can't do it just by reading it very carefully.

In any case: Most authors write their novels to be read and not to be analyzed. so don't stress too much over it.

>>8605337
There's a definite pattern and themes that are identifiable. Just pick the most famous 3, project those ideas onto it and see if they work. Most people will say it does either way.

>>8605577
Step one of reading books is discarding the idea that there are "correct" opinions. Everything is evidenceble and therefore the only thing that matters is that your ideas are compelling

File: images.jpg (13KB, 213x236px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 213x236px

>>8605646
shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits