Part 4

melodrama

wrks of fiction exaggerating plot/character, appeal to audience's emotions

Modernism

Gatsby written in modernist era Both modernism and post-modernism = literary mov.s, othr literary mov.s incl. metaphysical poets, romanticism, realism, magical realism, post-colonialism Began late 1800s, lasted until WWII, then post-modernism began to take over (but all literary periods overlap, dep.s on what's "in vogue" at the time), began when intellectuals nd writers startet to react against common ideas of Victorian era, they believed subjective experience more valuable than objective reality, rejects nat. order and authority, after WWI world seemed to lack guiding principles nd seemed senseless to many. Questions form, modernists draw our attention to novel's/text's form Modernism: embraces elitist art (retains high-low class divide), concerned w. urban life and diff.s between rural and urban life; disillusionment is a characteristic (frustration abt. the times not reaching your hopes, same thing even before WWI, even though particularly strong after it, e.g. suffragette mov. created disillusionment); individualist ("the lonely protagonist", often mood/self-centred narrative w. many opinions ant. ppl in a story); self-consciously experimental; critiques society/consumerism; moves away from realism (plainly explaining, is more poetic and pretentious); advanced structural narratives; future-focused narratives (tries to hint at and predict the future) The Moderns = artists active during Modernism (critical of American Dream no longer being true --> illusion, critique seen in many literary works of the era), followed "spirit" of the age, disillusionment w. traditions seeing spiritually empty, rejection of traditional themes/styles; bold experimentation in all artistic areas, reacted to WWI,´(death toll --> further disillusion among many Americans - "what destroyed faith in progress, but it did more han that- it made clear to perceptive thinkers ... that violence prowled underneath". Critique against "The American Dream" proving to be false - that USA was a New Eden, the place of possibility/progress, boundless sources/opportunities, no cap on progress - anything's possible, any1 can make it big, the independent, self-reliant ppl will always succeed no matter background. Their ideas were strengthened w. the Great Depression - already disillusioned artists gained greater sense of society's prob.s, contrast rich/poor = more apparent, incredible buildings/architechture like Empire State Building (1931), Golden Gate Bridge (1937), and Hoover Dam (1937) built while ppl were starving. American Dream out of reach for most ppl Modernist US writers like Steinbeck (California) and William Faulkner (Mississippi), many lived on French Riviera (no prohibition, cheaper, more exotic), e.g. T.S. Eliot (poet, many poems inspiration for Cats musical); Hemingway (novelist), Fitzgerald (famous only for a time) = expatriates (lived abroad) --> celebrated on both continents, many were drinking buddies w. othr famous ppl (like Picasso) --> inspired each othr so explosion in poetic lang. Harlem Renaissance - many African American artists, (Langston Hughes one of more famous poets of this group at the time), new appreciation of black voices (some argue bc. of the jazz mov.), rally cry against racism in South, seeds of Civ. Rig. Mov., many black artists from South came North to be part of the less racist North and to have chances at expressing themselves

2nd person narrator

2nd person narrator = rarely used in lit. (better in instructional texts), if used in fiction having 2nd pers. narrative turns reader --> protagonist

Key questions to have in mind

How does writer engage reader? (details!) often succeed w. this by portraying characters we can identify w./ see life through their eyes: "what function do they serve in story?"; "How does author bring them to life?"

Narrative

Writers of fiction speak to readers through narrative voice (narrative = manner in which story is told, incl.s point of view, diction, tense) HOW story's told = often more impt. than WHAT's told, engagement of reader = determined by how writer uses point of view, narration, speech, tense: who tells story --> influences reader's interpretation/experience of events; options = limited to viewpoints of story's narrator (1st pers. singular narrator), story's reader (2nd pers. singular narrator), someone outside story looking in (3rd pers. singular narrator)

Conflict

ex. hum. struggle, impt. in story; in fiction are many ex.s of themes of hum. struggle in which we look at purposes to have deeper meaning; many fictional rep.s of struggles caused by ppl's lust, pride, rage, ambition, inequality engage us as readers, keep our interest. Is related to plot/ plot structures, evolving in text in structured way. Literary texts' conflicts = seldom simple but 4 basic types can be identified still: individual against society, individual against anthr person, individual against circumstances, individual against him-/herself (although some conflicts don't nicely fit into these categories)

Post-modernism

mix high and low art forms (low = ex. crafts, not as "cultured", in literature can be seen through sland, which would never be used in modernist, but in post-modernism to demonstrate class diff.s, more common to accept "low" lang.), make use of all styles and registers; fragmentation (non-linearity, no traditional plots, doesn't have to make sense); absurdum (life doesn't "make sense"); intertextuality (reference to othrs' works in same/previous time period, no text stands alone, how do other works affect this work?); parodies of modernist art (for being "too serious"); scientific fiction and magic realism emerge for the first time in this literary era; no absolute truth (quite new, you can't know the absolute truth for certain, a lot of objectivity)

3rd person narrator

3rd person narrator = are sev. variables to consider if this is case: is narrator OMNISCIENT (=written by all-knowing point of view w. access to all characters/places/events of story; is narrator a kind of god? Is it someone observing characters? Knowing everything abt. everyone?), or is it LIMITED NARRATION (=offers insight into thoughts/events/actions of 1 character only) following protagonist only?. In limited narration impt. events may happen off-scene (=protagonist/ reader = first unaware of them --> surprise later on, detective stories rely heavily on this = readers have to unravel mystery at same time as protagonist detective does, which creates suspense, engages reader). When commenting on 3rd person literary texts = how biased/ subjective is narrator? Partial to certain ideology/ person? Narrator objectivity varies from texts and to diff. degrees. One extreme = OBJECTIVE NARRATION (reader observes characters' actions like from camera, incl.s storytelling UNbiased towards character/ideology; also known as FLY-ON-THE-WALL-NARRATION). Othr extreme = SUBJECTIVE NARRATION (readers subjected to biased account of events partial to 1 character, incl.s storytelling biased towards ideological position/character.

Narration

Slightly diff. from point of view/NARRATIVE (WHO tells story). NARRATION = pers. story is told TO DIRECT NARRATION narration = story directed to "you" (me), narrator conscious of act of storytelling, sometimes in xtreme cases can even explicitly say "you" in text (=creates internal context/frame around story), target audience can be spoken directly by narrator, although we may not be part of narrator's intended audience (=can create humour as we read if after all; ex. in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy they discuss "the hum.s", which implies that hum.s aren't narrator's intended audience) Frame narration = involves at least 2 layers of storytelling, ex. story is directed from one character to anthr/ narrator tells us abt. someone else in story; often used in Gothic lit. (ex. Frankenstein), as reader "listens" as story within story is told narrator (both narrator + reader come away as wiser afterwards) Indirect narration = reader is witness to story, as if watches it happen from outside, is no one retelling/ interpreting/ explaining events as unfold, characteristically heavily relies on dialogue, most dramatic narration = indirect. Indirect narration = can be used in both 1st + 3rd pers. narrative (3rd pers.: usually more objective; 1st person: can be through stream of consciousness, as reader eavesdrops on narrator's thoughts). Only time we see direct narration in drama = in ASIDE (when character turns to audience, directly addresses them, telling thoughts, dramatic device, othr characters can't hear), very common in Shakespeare's plays. Indir

Tense

are only 3 tenses authors can choose from (past/present/future - but future seldom used) Past tense: most common due to vast probabilities, allows HINDSIGHT WISDOM (narrator looks back knowing more than when events occurred, narration style; often 1st pers. point of view w. direct narration, narrator looks back to event from wise vantage point, tells us their story so we, too, can know what they've learnt) + FLASHBACKS (storytelling technique, reader taken back to events before main story, incl.s background info. interspersed throughout story, takes reader back to events, help us understand relevance of main story-line, allow to gradually understand strange, internal context of story). Historical present = also form of past tense (often used in telling jokes, "a man walks into a bar..."), allows us to experience events as protagonist confronts them (=engaging, exciting) Present tense = engages reader (=effect), diff. between historical present as we get narrator's understanding of sit. directly. In fiction, present tense lets narrator know as little as reader abt. sit.s presenting themselves. Narrator does NOT have wisdom of hindsight

Speech

authors also use speech as structural device in writing, are 3 kinds of speech in narrative writing: - direct speech = characters speak for themselves, quotation marks show when character speaks directly to othr characters/ when quotes othrs, direct/quoted speech = often indirect narration where narrator shows us story (not tells) (i.e. dialogue w. no commentaries/summaries explaining what happens) - reported/indirect speech = opp. to direct speech, narrator summarise events/convo.s for us w.o. quotation marks ("she asked abt. the way"), effect: reader becomes dep. on narrator. - free indirect speech = 3rd-person-limited point of view, narrators show protagonist's thoughts w.o. quotation marks/othr indicators like "he thought" (19th cent. French Gustav Flaubert famous for this in Madam Bovary), good to allow readers to empathise w. protgonist while observing elements from seemingly objective point of view, is like indirect speech but w.o. reporting clauses, has features of both direct + indirect (ex. used in Pride and Prejudice), develops characters in which direct speech can't, subtle cues in lang. report character's views on things (e.g. "he said he would be there the next day" - often incl.s "would" and similar)

1st person narrator

engages reader, poses interesting q.s if reader is to believe what's said or not (we tend to believe narrators bc. speak from what they experience), but sometimes we should be wary bc. narrator may be UNRELIABLE NARRATOR (fiction, when reader is forced to q. narrator's accounts of events - writers have this for reason, to get reader to think, reflect, if they make unreliable narrator obv.), which keeps readers engaged bc. keep us 2nd-guessing story's veracity; 1st pers. narrator =s useful in horror/crime (taking reader right into criminal mind) and in Bildungsroman (abt. young ppl coming of age - useful bc. narrators are young, learning abt. wrld as we go along, we can often better understand sit.s they face; young hero/heroine becoming mature); 1st pers. = pop. in modern fiction. 1st person often allows us to get into narrator's mind by using STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS (style of storytelling putting reader into narrator's mind --> access to narrator's thoughts as they occur, randomly, fragmented, unorg.d; when narrator describes events as unravel, style/ sentences = often fragmented/ not always sequential bc. character's life is full of interpretations/ flashbacks; starting sentence w. "and" adds randomness to storytelling) First person point of view = NOT always incl. protagonist's random thoughts, sometimes is not narrator's own thoughts we hear but narration of someone else's story (=FRAME NARRATION; when is story in story/r when we get to hear various events abt. someone else to be pieced tgthr; Nick in "Gatsby" = frame narrator) as narrator acts as thin frame around story of protagonist (=PERIPHERAL CHARACTER telling story). 1st-person point of view can q. narrator's reliability (unreliable narrator); give audience window into narrator's mind (stream of consciousness); give audience vantage point from which protagonist can be observed (frame narration)

Suspense

feeling of tension/anxiety by audience as events develop, wrk towards climax in wrk of fiction, can be achieved often by foreshadowing, readers anticipating what will happen/ readers know abt danger characters don't; appeal to readers' hearts; sets q. "how can crisis/ impending danger be averted?"; when character/narrator knows more than reader creates suspense

The basic building blocks of fiction

plot, character, setting, conflict, theme = elements to have as lenses for IOC (=concrete elements of fiction) Plot = series of events/ actions occurring in story, types of conflicts occurring, accumulation of dramatic events. Many stories have diff. variations of same plot (ex. impossible love); "the quest" = plots like in GOT / LOTR/Odyssey = someone is after smthing (treasure/artefact/getting home etc), ppl have always liked them, as w. comedies/ tragedies/ horror stories/ love stories but writers must avoid cliches when inventing new stories in classic genres (cliche = literary device/ structure used so often has lost some of artistic sig. and fails to affect audience); "overcoming monster" = plot incl.ing threatening predator w. abnormal/dangerous thing/ person; "rags to riches" = involves imprvments of character; "voyage and return" = characters end up in strange place, must get home; "comedy" = makes us laugh; "tragedy" = sad, unjust; "rebirth" = characters goes through change. discovers truth Setting = backdrop against which action of story occurs, can describe both physical/ emotional landscape of wrk; largely determines plausibility of events/ context in which we can interpret them, can shape characters and mirror ideas of their time; is internal context of story, usually reflects story's atmosphere (describing story's mood), setting acts as mirror of zeitgeist (tidsanda) of times in which story occurs, lays down expectations for reader. Setting can allow us to escape own realities (espec. in fiction, engage readers by creating setting diff. from own wrld (=escapist settings, often end up reflecting/ commenting on reality of reader as s-/he has to escape it)). Alienation can also be produced by hostile setting, appealing to basic needs shelter, warmth, love in fascinating way

characters used

protagonist = main character in dramatic story, makes events/ actions move towards particular goal, elicits empathy in reader antagonist = stands in way of protagonist, tries to prevent him/ her/ them from achieving goal, creates tension/conflict. Authors often put 2 opp. characters in proximity to each othr to enhance characteristics, thereby comment on ppl's behaviour, values, qualities FOIL = characters whose qualities are in contrast to main character's to expose them to reader (not necessarily antagonist). Some characters evolve more than othrs in plot (static, flat vs. complex, round, latter often engages us more + are more relatable); round characters bring them to life, which engages reader more, through sev. techniques in dialogue, actions, thoughts. Dialogues = what ppl say in certain sit.s define who they are, as do actions (in some sit.s readers ask themselves what would do in similar sit., empathise w. them, thereby being engaged) Characters = often brought to life by thoughts, in plays often done by soliloquies (dramatic device in theatre when character talks to him-/herself in monologue addressed directly to audience, expressing thought only audience can hear); in films is achieved by voiceovers, in narrative prose through narrator/main character Many literary texts present characters as victims of time/ place to comment on unjust contemporary society's principles (individual in conflict w. society = recurring theme, can be found at diff. levels in single literary text) When analysing characters in literary text - characters typically stand for something, embody abstract concept. Some wrks of fiction revolve around circumstances out of everyone's control (war, nat. disaster, aliens etc.) --> readers wonder abt own response in such sit.s (also, to what extent are characters responsible for the conditions/ circumstances they're up against?). Ppl are own worst enemy = idea perpetuated in many fictional wrks (ask yourself, which characters are self-destructive/ which quality do most harm? = writer comments on characters' harmful ways in incidents of conflicts, which may represent society in some way)

Freytag's pyramid

simple visualisation of plot (= straight line w. sharp pyramid in middle, then straight line again), has 5 elements of plot structure. Exposition = part of story where reader is provided w. info. abt. plot, character, setting; beginning of story; foreshadowing (literary device hinting of given events to come so reader can predict/fear what might happen) is common in expositions Rising action = part where plot develops, characters enter state of conflict Climax = turning-point in story, tension has reached highest point, often comes shortly before end (but not necessarily, ex. as in Crime and Punishment where falling action is main part of plot) Falling action = often very brief (but not always), as readers discover result of climax Denouement = lit. "unknotting", suggests rising action + climax has become knot to be untied before story can end, once tension of story has unravelled we see characters of story dealing w. effects; may be appendix

Theme

underlying message of literary text, is behind impt. q. "what's text abt.?", symbols/motifs --> often clues abt. theme (as title itself often also does). Symbols = physical objects standing for abstract ideas (authors don't accidentally incl. objects --> q. symbolic meaning of every object appearing!) Motif = recurring symbol/structure/stylistic devices commenting on deeper literary theme (ex. bathing/wtr = often symbolises spiritual/mental cleansing), if smthing occurs more than once = prob. motif Title = guiding light through story (=writer has carefully chosen it)