Robert
DiYanni Book
1.
Reading Stories
There
are three aspects of the reading process “experience,” “interpretation, ”and”evalution.”
(p.22)
The Experience of Fiction
Our
experience of fiction concerns our feelings about the characters, our sense of
involvement in the story’s developing action, our pleasure or confusion in its
language, our joy or sorrow as its outcome. (p.22)
The
Interpretation of Fiction
An
Interpretation is an argument about a story’s meaning as we understand it.
Interpretation, in short, relies on our intellectual comprehension rather than
on our emotional response to the literary work. The interpretation involves
four related intellectual acts: observing, connecting, inferring, and
concluding. (p.23)
The
Evaluation of Fiction
When
we evaluate a story we do two different things. First we asses its literary
quality; we make a judgement about how good it is, how succesfully it realizes
its intensions, how effectively it pleasess us. Second, we consider the values
the story endorses-or refutes. An evaluation is essentially a judgement, an
opinion about a work formulated as a conclusion. When we appraise it according
to our own special combination of cultural, moral, and aesthetic values. (p.25)
The
Act of Reading Action
Even though we may read stories line by
line, sentence by sentence, page by page, this linearity belies what happens
mentally as we read. Our mentally action is cyclical rather than linear. (p.32)
2.
Types of Short Fiction
Early
Forms: Parable, Fable and Tale
We defined a parable as a brief
story that teaches a lesson, often of a religious or spiritual nature. Like
parable, fables are a brief stories that point to a moral. Fables often
highlight human failings. They frequently include animals as characters, and their
tone is satirical. (p.37)
A tale is a story that narrates
strange or fabulous happenings.While we may read fables and parables to
understand their meaning, our interest in tales will generally incline
more toward what happens and possibly the emotions we experience. (p.38)
The Short Story
Short stories, on the other hand,
typically reveal character in dramatic scenes, in moments of action, and in
exchanges of dialogue. (p.41)
The Nonrealistic Story
The important thing, however, about
nonrealistic stories is to accept them on their own terms. (p.41)
3.
Elements of Fiction
Plot and Structure
Plot
is the arrangement of events that make up a story. Many fictional plot turn on
a conflict, or struggle between opposing forces, that is usually resolved by
the end of the story.
Typically fictional plots begin with an exposition
that provides background information we need to make sense of the action, that
describes the setting, and that introduces the major characters; these plots
develop a series of complications or intensifications of the conflict
that lead to a crisis of moment
great tension. The conflict may reach a climax or turning point, a
moment of great tension that fixes the outcome; then, the action falls off as
the plot’s complications are sorted out and resolved (the resolution or denoument).
(p.44)
Character
Character in fiction can be conveniently
classified as major and minor, static and dynamic. The major character is
sometimes called a protagonist whose conflict with an antagonist may
spark story’s conflict. Supporting the major character are one or more
secondary or minor charcters
whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters. (p.54)
Characterization is the means by wich writers present and
reveal character. (p.55)
Setting
This place or location of a story’s action
along with the time in which it occurs is its setting. (p.60)Setting is
important for an additional reason: it symbolizes the emotional state of the
characters. (p.61)
Point of View
In a story with objective point of view,
the writer shows what happens without directly stating more than readers can
infer from its action and dialogue. (p.71) Although third person point
of view may take us inside a character’s consciousness or remain objective. It
does not assume the perspective of any character. Stories with narrators who
participate in the action are presented from a first person point of view. (p.72)
Language and Style
The way writer chooses words and arranges
them determines his or her style. (p.79)
In the
discussion of the language and style of fiction, we will concentrate on diction,
the kind of word choices a writer makes; syntax, the order those
words assume in sentences; and the presence or absence of figurative language,
especially figures or comparison (simile and metaphor)
(p.80)
Theme
Simply put, a story’s theme is its
idea or point (formulated as a generalization). The theme of a fable is its
moral; the theme of parable is its teaching; the theme of a short story is its
implied view of life and conduct. (p.85)
Irony and symbol
Two traditional facets of fictional works
are irony and symbol. Both allow writers to compress a great deal
of meaning into a brief space. (p.92)
Irony
Irony
always involves a contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another. (p.92)
Symbol
Symbol
in fiction are simply objects, actions, or events that convey meaning. (p.94)
Fiction
The Elements of the Short
Story
Plot
Plot has
been defined as “an author’s careful arrangement of incidents in a narrative to
achieve a desired effect.” (p.1)
Causality
A plot is a series of actions, often
presented in chronological order, but the ingredient a plot has that a story
lacks is causality. (p.1)
Conflict
Traditionally, plot grow out of a
conflict-an internal or an external struggle between the main character and an
opposing force. (p.2)
Plot Structure
In literature, however, exposition
refers to the explanatory information a reader needs to compeherend the
situation in the story. (p.3)
The initiating incident is the
event that changes the situation established in the exposition and sets the
conflict in motion. (p.3)
In the raising action, various
episodes occur that develop, complicate, or intensify the conflict. (p.3)
Climax
has been defined in a number of ways; the point of greates conflict, the
emotional high point, the turning point in the plot, or the point at which one
of the opposing forces gains: the advantage. (p.3)
The events that follow the climax are
known as the failing action. (p.4)
The failing action leads into the resolution
or denouement of the story. (p.4)
Techniques in Storytelling
Authors employ a number of technique in
telling their stories. They include flashback, foreshadowing, suspense, and
coincidence. (p.5)
Setting
Aspect of Setting
Setting can be general, specific, or very
detailed. (p.45)
Purposes of Setting
Setting may serve a number of purposes,
such as influencing action, defining character, and contributing to mood. (p.46)
Character
As a literary term, however, a character
is a person created for a work of fiction. (p.95)
Round and Flat Characters (p.95)
Major and Minor Characters (p.96)
Active and Static Characters (p.97)
Characterization
Character creation is the art of characterization-what
the author does to bring a character to life, to provide the reader with a
sense of that character’s personality, to make that character unique. (pp.97-98)
Direct Characterization (p.98)
Indirect Characterization (p.98)
Assesing characterization (p.99)
Point of View and Tone
Point of view is the vantage point from
which an author tells a story. (p.151)
First Person Point of view (p.151)
Third Person Point of View (p. 152)
Tone (p.153)
Tone and Mood
The terms tone and mood are
sometimes confused. While tone conveys the author’s attitude, mood refers to
the atmosphere in a story. (p.153)
Theme
Theme is an author’s insight or general
observation about human nature or the human condition that is conveyed through
character, plot, and imagery. (p.199)
Style
One of the more difficult literary terms
to define precisely is style, a writer’s characteristic way of saying
things. (p.243)
Diction
Diction refers to a writer’s choice of
words. (p.243)
Imagery and Symbol
Most reader think that imagery
refers solely to visual pictures, but in literature, where it may be called sensory
imagery, the term extends to all senses-sight, taste, smell, touch, amd
hearing. (p.244) In broad terms, a symbol is
anything that signifies, or stand for something else. In literature, a symbol
is anything concrete-an object, place, a character, an action-that stands for
or suggests something abstract. (p.244)
Syntax and Variety
A third component of style is the
sentence. Syntax, or sentence structure, pattern or arrangement of
individual words and phrases. (p.245)
Popular Fiction
Western (p.317)
Mystery and Detective (p.346)
Fantasy and Science Fiction (p.397)
Ghost and Horror (p.423)
