Short Story Unit Chapter One Reading the Story Short Story Unit Chapter One

Classifications of Fiction Commercial fiction – written solely to entertain, published primarily to make money because it allows people to escape the tedium and stress of life Literary fiction – written by someone with serious artistic intentions who hopes to broaden, deepen, and sharpen the reader’s awareness of life

Classifications of Fiction Commercial fiction takes us away from the real world: it helps us temporarily forget our troubles. Literary fiction plunges us, through the author’s imaginative vision and artistic ability, more deeply into the real world, enabling us to understand life’s difficulties and to empathize with others.

Classification of Fiction “In essence, the best Genre Fiction (Commercial) contains great writing, with the goal of telling a captivating story to escape from reality. Literary Fiction is comprised of the heart and soul of a writer's being, and is experienced as an emotional journey through the symphony of words, leading to a stronger grasp of the universe and of ourselves.” – Steven Petite, Huffington Post

What makes a work literature, and who gets to decide? HOWEVER… What makes a work literature, and who gets to decide?

Consider: Charles Dickens was called “the greatest of superficial writers” by his contemporary Henry James who went on the say, “He has added nothing to our understanding of human character.” Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, “wasn’t worth any adult reader’s attention.” – The New York Times J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, “kind of monotonous.” – The New York Times F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, “an absurd story” and “a book of the season only.” –The Saturday Review

In the end… what makes literary fiction (which is the foundation of this class) is not how many million books are sold, but whether or not future generations will study and read the book.

Reading in AP 3 to AP 4 “Non-fiction is an indispensible fund of information and ideas that constitute one kind of knowledge of the world; literary fiction is an equally indispensible source of a different kind of knowledge, a knowledge of experience, felt in the emotions as well as apprehended by the mind.” – Perrine’s Literature

Our Approach to Literary Fiction You will not find all of the selections we read “appealing”. I know this, trust me! Expect the unexpected: point of view, style, endings, artistic truth Keep an open mind and stay receptive Look at the literature with a serious commitment with growth in your understanding of the world and the human condition

Works Cited Peretz, Evgenia. "It's Tartt But Is It Art?." Vanity Fair July 2014: 44-50. Print. Perrine Laurence, Thomas R. Arp, and Greg Johnson. Perrine's story and structure. 10th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College, 2009. Print. Petite, Steven. "Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 29 July 2014. <http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-petite/ literary-fiction-vs-genre fiction_b_4859609.html>.