2. WHAT IS LITERATURE?
Compositions which…
Tell stories
Dramatize situations
Express emotions
Analyze and
advocate ideas
Stems from the
oral tradition
Often set to music
Ex: Ballads
Depiction of The Decameron (c. 1350)
3. MODERN FICTION
The essence of fiction is narration (storytelling).
Rooted in ancient legends and myths.
Starting about 800 years ago, storytelling in Western Civilization
developed into a fine art by writers such as…
Marie de France Giovanni Geoffrey William
France 12 th Bocccaccio Chaucer Shakespeare
century Italy 1313- England England
Poet 1375 c. 1340-1400 1564-1616
The Decameron The Canterbury Poet &
Tales Playwright
Fiction spread during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The rise of the novel as literary form largely credited to late 1600s
– early 1700s.
Poe created the concept of the short story – early 19th century.
4. WHY READ FICTION?
Literature nourishes our emotional lives.
Literature broadens our perspectives on the world.
Literature helps us grow personally and
intellectually.
Literature enhances and sharpens our perceptions.
Both the reader and the author
create a literary work.
10. ALICE WALKER (B. 1944)
Humanitarian /
Novelist / Poet
Political Activist
Born in 1944 to share-
croppers in Eatonton, GA Alice Walker in Gaza
1963 – Participated in the
March on Washington "You Confide in Me"
1965 - Graduated from Sarah
Lawrence College, NY
Pioneered one of the first
Women’s Studies courses in
the country at Wellesley
College
1982 – Won the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction for The Color
Purple
Continues to be active in
national and international
women’s rights
11. “EVERYDAY USE” (1973)
What type of fiction is
“Everyday Use”?
First reading – basic
comprehension of events
in story
First reading – first
impressions, reader
reactions & responses
Second reading – trace
development of
ideas, write expanded
notes, memorize
important or interesting
passages, write down
questions you have about Lone Star Pieced Quilt Pattern
the text
12. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION?
Verisimilitude
& Donnée
Theme Plot
Symbolism &
Point of View
Allegory
Tone & Style Characters
Structure Setting
14. Fiction is based in realism or
verisimilitude: the situations or
characters ring true; they are Verisimilitude &
similar to those that many Donnée
human beings experience or
know.
Authors establish ground rules
for the characters and situations
present in their works.
Point of
View
Donnée (something given) is the
premise of a story. Setting
Plot
Allows an author to lead readers
into Characters
natural, remote, fanciful, magical,
or symbolic worlds.
Ex: Futuristic or Science Fiction Tone &
Style
Growth or Apprenticeship story Structure
Detective story
15. ART SPIEGELMAN (1948 - )
Cartoonist Graphic Novelist
Swedish born What is the correlation
Worked professionally between the title Maus and
as a cartoonist before the characters?
becoming writing the How does this
graphic novel Maus. personification of animals as
Founded as the story’s
the comic c aracter characters
magazine function function in the
Raw. text text?
17. The author’s arrangement of
incidents in a story
Plot
The motivation and causality
Verisimilitude
of fiction
& Donée
Point of View
Conflict is the major element
of plot – opposing forces
Tone & Style
arouse curiosity, create
Setting
tension, and produce interest.
Characters
Without conflict, there is no
motivation for the plot or the
Structure
characters
18. WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962)
Southern Writer Canonical Works
Born in Mississippi; lived his
entire life in the South
Created an imaginary county
in Mississippi – many works
are based there
Won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1949
Major works include The
Sound and the Fury (1929),
As I Lay Dying (1930),
Absalom, Absalom! (1936)
19. “A ROSE FOR EMILY” (1931)
What type of narration is at Does it matter that Homer is a
work in the text? Northerner?
What type of person is Miss Did you feel sympathy for Emily
Emily? because of her history of tragic
personal events?
What information do we
learn about her relationship Based on her actions, did you
with her father? With anticipate the ending of the
Homer Barron? story?
What role does the town’s What is the pattern of conflict in
southern location play in the the story? Is there any conflict
story? resolution?
21. Refers to the
speaker, narrator, persona, or Point of
voice of the story and how it View
is told
The author’s choice of point
of view shapes how we feel Verisimilitude
& Donée
about the events of the story
The narrator affects our Structure
understanding of the
Setting
characters’ actions Characters
If the narrative voice is
changed, the story changes
Plot Tone & Style
22. First- • The I presents the point of view of only
one character’s consciousness
• The narrator tells about events he or she
Person has personally witnessed.
Second- • The narrator is speaking to someone else
who is addressed as “you”
• The least common and most difficult for
Person authors to manage
• Does not appear as a character in the
Third- story
• Three variants – (1) dramatic or
Person objective, (2) omniscient, and (3) limited
omniscient
23. NARRATIVE PRESENCE
Dramatic or Objective Unreliable narrator
point of view Interprets events differently
Does not allow the narrator from the way those events are
to see inside the mind of any suggested by the author
character
Limited to only what is said
and what happens
Naïve narrator
Lacks the sophistication
Omniscient point of view
to interpret events
All-knowing, can take the accurately
reader inside the minds of
each character
Limited or Limited Stream of Consciousness
Omniscient point of view Allows the reader to see the
Focuses on the thoughts and flow of thoughts from a
deeds of one major character
character
24. SHERMAN ALEXIE (1966 - )
Writer / Poet Screenwriter / Director
Native American of the The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Spokane Coeur d’ Fistfight in Heaven (1993)
Alene Nation. Smoke Signals (1998)
Educated on the The Absolutely True Diary of a
reservation & at Part-Time Indian (2007)
Washington State U.
War Dances (2009)
Success as a writer
was virtually immediate
Has won numerous
awards
25. “THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO SAY
PHOENIX, ARIZONA” (1993)
What point of view is at Is the narrator
work in this text? knowledgeable,
1st - 2nd - 3rd unreliable, naïve
What type of narrative
presence is
suggested?
Dramatic or Objective
Omniscient
Limited or Limited
Omniscient
27. Plot and characterization are
interrelated
Characters Characters are
usually, although not
always, human
The Protagonist or hero /
Verisimilitude
& Donée
heroine is the central
character who engages our
Structure
interest and sympathy
Setting The Antagonist is the force
Point of
View that opposes the protagonist
Characters exhibit traits =
qualities of mind or habitual
Plot Tone & Style behaviors that are evident in
both positive and negative
ways.
28. CHARACTERIZATION
Authors sometimes
Likewise, an
What’s in a put much time and
effort into selecting
Names can suggest
a character’s nature
unnamed character
lacks an individual
Name? names for their or qualities
identity
characters
Authors reveal Characters reveal Characters are their
characters by themselves
indirectly through
revealed directly
through what the
appearance, their
background, their
showing and what they writer tells us about thoughts, their
say, do, and think them … attitudes
telling
Characters can Dynamic characters
Static characters The reader knows
be dynamic or change throughout
stay the same with
no significant
much about round
characters – but
the text – for better
static, flat or or worse
realizations or very little about flat
personality change characters
round
We may be able to
Characters identify with the We do not But we should
should be characters or see necessarily need to understand their
ourselves or others like the characters, motivation
convincing in them
29. WHAT IS A STOCK CHARACTER?
Usually considered flat characters
Prominent in certain types of literature:
Cowboy stories
Police investigation stories
Private eye stories
In these instances, character is lively and
engaging although he or she does not
undergo significant change during the
story
Because they have common traits, stock characters
are representative of their particular group.
30. T. CORGHESSAN (T.C.) BOYLE (1948 - )
Novelist / Short-Story Writer Professor of English
Born in New York Descent of Man (1979)
Professor of English at Greasy Lake and Other
University of Southern Stories (1985)
California Talk, Talk (2006)
Has won The Women
numerous (2009)
awards, includin • BIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL
g 6 O. OF FRANK LLOYD
WRIGHT‘S LIFE AS
Henry Awards TOLD THROUGH HIS
RELATIONSHIPS WITH
FOUR WOMEN
31. “GREASY LAKE” (1985)
How would you characterize each of the main
characters from the story?
33. Setting is the
“natural, manufactured, political
, cultural, and temporal Setting
environment, including
everything that characters
know, own, and otherwise
experience” (Roberts 224).
The major elements: Verisimilitude
& Donée
Time
Structure
Place (both public and private
spaces) Characters
Social Environment that frames Point of
View
the characters (cultural or
historic)
Used to evoke a mood or Tone & Style
atmosphere for what is to
Plot
come, or to contradict the
action.
34. THE LITERARY USES OF SETTING
Authors use setting to create meaning:
Usually essential and vital in a story
Enhances a work’s realism and credibility
Accentuates qualities of character
Underscores the influence of place, circumstance, and time on
human growth and change
Shapes the structure of a work
Framing or Enclosing Setting – the work opens and closes in
the same setting
Provides symbolic meaning
Creates atmosphere or mood
Underscores a work’s irony
35. CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1860-1935)
Women’s Rights Activist Lecturer / Author
Began writing after the birth “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892)
of her daughter and a Women and Economics (1898)
nervous breakdown in the
1880s. Concerning Children (1900)
Left her husband in 1890 to Human Work (1904)
seek her independence. His Religion and Hers (1923)
Distinguished career as an
advocate for women’s rights
Championed the need for
women’s financial
independence
In 1930s, became incurably
ill – took her own life in
1935
36. THE “REST CURE”
Gilman was a patient of Philadelphia physician, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and
his famous “rest cure.”
Prescribed almost exclusively to women, the rest cure enforced (1)
isolation, (2) rest, and (3) feeding, with electrotherapy and massage to
counteract muscle atrophy – patients were made infant-like.
Treatment included strict limits on “brain work” which he felt interfered
with “womanly duties.”
After writing the story, Gilman sent a copy to him as criticism. Dr.
Mitchell later modified his methods.
37. “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” (1892)
How is setting used to evoke the
mood or atmosphere?
How much time elapses? How
does the passage of time explain
what is happening to the
narrator?
How does setting accentuate the
main character? What change
occurs as a result of setting in
the story?
What is the narrator’s
connection to the wallpaper?
Discuss the narrator’s feelings
regarding the room (private) vs.
gardens, paths, (public) settings
she encounters. Do her feelings
change?
Can a case be made that the
“rest cure” the narrator receives
is actually the cause of her
mental disturbance?
39. Structure = the Organization
Structure of Stories
Formal Categories of Structure:
The Exposition
Verisimilitude Provides materials necessary to put the
& Donée
plot into operation
Provides background information the
Setting reader needs to make sense of the
Characters
Point of story
View
The Complication
Marks the beginning and the growth of
Tone &
the conflict
Style Conflict - the necessary struggle that
Plot the characters undergo, can be external
or internal
40. Rising Action - the plot
gains momentum through
a complication that
intensifies the situation
The Crisis
Marks the decisions made
to end the conflict
The Climax
The moment of greatest
emotional tension in the
story
The conclusion of the
conflict
The Resolution
(Dénouement)
The victory or resolution of
the conflict
Finishes the work and
releases the tension
41. CREATING INTEREST WITH STRUCTURE
Writers use various techniques to create interest:
Chronological order
Flashback
In medias res (in the middle of the action)
Non-linear (back-and-forth, not chronological)
Foreshadowing = a sometimes subtle suggestion of
what is to come
Suspense = anxiety built over the outcome
42. JOYCE CAROL OATES (1938 -)
Novelist / Literary Critic Poet / Short Story Writer
Attended a one-room school Has written 30+ novels,
as a child short story collections,
Currently is Distinguished poetry, and criticisms
Professor in the Humanities Solstice (1985)
at Princeton University. Foxfire (1993)
Missing Mom (2005)
Awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship, O. Henry
Award, National Book
Award, and 3 nominations
for the Pulitzer Prize
43. “WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE
YOU BEEN? (1970)
Public Space vs. Private What is Connie’s connection with
Space: music that permeates the story?
In public, Connie is How does it play into the
ostentatious, out- structure?
going, flirtatious, sexually What happens in that odd scene
curious, adult-like, feels in when Connie goes to make a
control phone call?
In private, Connie is Why does she leave with Arnold
cynical, withdrawn, child- Friend?
like, feels out of control
Interesting then that Arnold
Friend comes to her home
to “get her”
Inspiration for the story was
serial killer Charles
Schmid, who abducted and
killed 3 young women near
Tuscon, AZ.
45. Style.
Tone & The distinctive manner in
Style which a writer arranges words
to achieve particular effects…
Including individual word
choices, the length of
Verisimilitude
& Donée
sentences, sentence structure
Setting
and tone, and the use of irony.
Diction refers to a writer’s
Characters
Point of choice of words.
View
Levels of Diction
Plot Concrete & Abstract Language
Structure
46. Tone. Irony.
Style reveals tone, the Verbal Irony occurs when
someone says one thing but
author’s implicit attitude toward means another…think
the people, places, and events sarcasm
in a story. Situational Irony occurs when
Because there is no voice to what is expected to happen
differs from what actually
put with the words, we must happens
rely on the context in which a Dramatic Irony occurs when
statement appears to the author gives the reader
determine its meaning. more information about a
situation than a character
Denotation = the actual, literal knows
meaning of a word Double Entendre = double
Connotation = the meaning of meaning
a word as it includes cultural
meanings Humor.
Slapstick, Dark, Adult
47. KATE CHOPIN (1851-1904)
Short-Story Writer Novelist
Born in St. Bayou Folk (1894)
Louis, Missouri, lived in Night in Acadie (1897)
LA The Awakening (1899)
Began to write after her
husband’s death
Published just 2
collections of short
stories and 1 novel
Criticism drove her to
stop writing
48. “THE STORY OF AN HOUR” (1894)
How would you characterize Chopin’s style of
writing?
What would you say is the tone at work on this
story?
Consider Tone and Irony?
Is it present? If so, what type?
Which lines indicate irony best?
Consider Tone and Humor?
Is it present? If so, what type?
Which lines indicate humor best?
50. A symbol is a person, object, or
event that suggests more than its
Symbolism literal meaning
& Allegory
Cultural symbols reinforce
meanings because their symbolic
meaning is widely known
Derived from our cultural and
historical knowledge
Verisimilitude
Contextual / Literary symbols
& Donée
Setting can be a
setting, character, action, object, na
me, or anything else in a work that
maintains its literal significance
Point of while suggesting other meanings –
View
can have multiple meanings
Only symbolic in individual works
Tone &
Style
Characters
An allegory broadens meaning like
symbolism, but is more sustained
Structure than symbolism
Often concerned with
morality, especially religion
51. FABLE, PARABLE, & MYTH
Closely related to symbolism and allegory
Fable = a short tale with a pointed moral
Ex: Aesop’s Fables, The Brothers Grimm, fairytales
Parable = a short narrative illustrating a religious
concept
Ex: “The Prodigal Son,”
“The Good Samaritan”
Myth = a tale with
social, political, religious, or
philosophical meanings
Usually the protagonists
are heroes, gods, and demigods
Some are based in historical truth
Ex: Adventures of the Greek Gods, urban myths
52. ALLUSION
Cultural or universal symbols and allegories often
allude to other works:
from our cultural heritage,
the Bible
ancient history and literature,
works of the British and American traditions
current politics
current events
53. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864)
Novelist Psychological Writer
Born in Salem, Mass. to a
Puritan family proud of
practical, legal, commercial
accomplishments
Creates complex characters
who suffer from inner conflicts
caused by
sin, pride, secrecy, guilt, passio
n, isolation, etc.
Plots are ambiguous, especially
the endings – suggests there is
no simple solution to some
problems
Works include: The Scarlet
Letter (1850), The House of the
Seven Gables (1851), The
Blithedale Romance (1852)
54. “YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN” (1835)
What cultural or universal symbols can you
discover in names, objects, places, situations, or
actions in the story?
The character Faith, the woods, the walking stick
What contextual symbolism can be found in the
work? What is being symbolized? Is the
symbolism necessary to the work?
How clearly does the author point you toward an
allegorical reading?
Through names and allusions?
56. The central idea or
meaning of a story Theme
Provides a unifying point
around which the Characters
plot, characters, setting, poi
nt of view, symbols, and
other elements of a story are Symbolism
& Allegory Setting
organized
Is not always easy to detect
The subject is not always Point of
View
the theme
Theme is not always Tone &
Style
discovered until a second or
third reading Structure
57. SEARCHING FOR THE THEME
Pay attention to the title of a story. It often provides a
lead to the theme of the work.
Look for details in the story that have potential for
symbolic meanings – these can lead to the theme.
Decide whether the protagonist develops some
important insight as a result of the action.
Study the:
authorial voice.
first-person speaker.
statements made by characters.
work’s figurative language.
way that characters stand for ideas.
work itself as an embodiment of ideas.
58. EXPRESSING THEME
Make sure that your expression of the
theme is a generalized statement and not
overly specific to a particular plot point.
Be wary of using clichés as a way of
stating theme.
Be aware that some stories emphasize theme
less than others – don’t try to force what just
isn’t there.
59. EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)
Poet, Novelist, Writer Literary Critic
Inventor of the Detective
Story
Pioneer of Science Fiction
Master of the Psychological
Horror Story
America’s First Great Literary
Critic
Museum of Edgar Allan Poe
Poe’s use of Literary Devices
60. “THE BLACK CAT” (1843)
Common Themes in Poe’s
Works Include…
Love and Hate
Self vs. Alter-Ego
The power of the dead over
the living
Murder as a fundamentally
animalistic, inhuman act
Eyes as the essence of
human identity vs. the curse
of the Evil Eye
