FICTION vs PROSE Tenor of discourse in both is the same Both can have imagery, setting and even characters (ie a travel blog) BUT … Fiction has plot  conflict and is imaginary (not fully real) Paolucci

FICTION Novella: longer fiction Short story. Very compressed, minimum characterization, setting, etc.. Sometimes has an intense moment/climax point. Novella: longer fiction Novel: full-length narrative usually with multiple chapters. Paolucci

ORIGINS of FICTION Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) [precursor to short story] Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722) [first novels in English. Humanism extended from individuals kings to individual commoners] Paolucci

SOME SUBGENRES of FICTION Picaresque: episodic in structure; thin on characterization and plot; usually about the adventures of a rogue or commoner Epistolary novel (written as letters; can show multiple points of view) Detective novel (the triumph of science and reason—ie Sherlock Holmes) Paolucci

MORE SUBGENRES of FICTION Gothic: must have elements of supernaturalism Bildungsroman: a story of coming of age (James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) Penny Dreadfuls: during the 1830s and 1840 based on people on death row Paolucci

(Some) ELEMENTS of FICTION Theme (main ideas and argument) Topic (general subject) Narrative (narratology) Imagery Plot Setting Characterization Paolucci

NARRATORS 1ST 2ND 3RD person (singular plural) Limited – Unlimited Reliable – Unreliable Dramatic – Omniscient Linear, iterative, circular, teleological, retrospective Paolucci

NARRATIVES Analepsis (flashback) and Prolepsis (flash forward) Showing vs telling (implying through action rather than telling through words) Framing or nested narratives (one inside the other) Diegetic (heard/experienced by the characters) Non-diegetic (not heard by characters but heard by us) Paolucci

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES Freytag’s Pyramid: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, conclusion (in the Norton) Erotetic Narration Noel Carroll. “… scenes, situations and events that appear earlier in the order of the exposition of a story are related to later scenes, situations, and events in the story as questions are related to answers.” Paolucci

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES For some Sci-Fi fiction: Noel Carroll (Philosophy of Horror) speaks of “The overreacher plot” (120) as a) preparation of the experiment b) the experiment itself c) accumulation of evidence that the experiment boomeranged or spun out of control and d) confrontation with the monster Paolucci

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES Jung and the Quest motif: Hero is part of a community (sometimes marginalized, but still a part of it), the community is threatened and the hero steps up to champion the community; hero must journey into a wilderness (often alone but sometimes) with a companion; hero is tested without knowing it and more or less passes the test, thereby saving the community; hero returns home a changed person. Paolucci

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES Jung and some archetypes: The mother or nurturer The trickster The child The Hero The wise woman The devil Paolucci

VLADIMIIR PROPP A Russian critic who examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures. His book on this ‘Morphology of the Folk Tale’ was first published in 1928 Propp looked at hundreds of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.” Paolucci

PROPP’S 8 CHARACTER ROLES The 8 character roles are 1. The villain(s) 2. The hero 3. The donor – who provides an object with some magic property. 4. The helper who aids the hero. 5. The princess (the sought for person) – reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes. 6. Her father – who rewards the hero. 7. The dispatcher – who sends the hero on his way. 8. The false hero Paolucci

SETTING, SYMBOL, IMAGERY A symbol is a single or limited visual metaphor (the lion represents courage, loyalty, nobility). Imagery is a set or cognate grouping of recurring symbols (natural world imagery would include water, trees, sky, wildlife) Paolucci

WAYNE BOOTH Talks of “telling” and “showing” narratives Telling is explicit and uses words: “Person x was sad” Showing is implicit and uses actions: “A tear trickled down from his eye” Paolucci