Short Stories
Why do we need stories? To Entertain Describe the non-human world and offer explanations of phenomena. Communicate human experience Fulfill an aesthetic need for beauty in language (just as we create songs, operas to fulfil a need for beauty in music) Record the actions and qualities of ancestors to be passed on to succeeding generations
Why do we need stories? Provide windows between unfamiliar groups and peoples, as people reveal their identity and perspective on the world. Provide a model for story-making so that others can organize their own thinking. Convey wisdom, social behaviour, origins. Serve a political and social function – sometimes promotes action and change (any oppression regime makes the silencing of its nation’s writers on of it’s first priorities). George Orwell said, “ Good novels are written by people who are not frightened.” – create hope.
Need stories? Continued… Develop humanness –respect for a vast array of emotion and thought. C.S. Lewis –”We read to know we are not alone.” Stories provide us with creative tools to deal with a complex world. The most important tool is the metaphor. The metaphor challenges our brain and helps us to adapt to a complicated world. Stories also fulfill a need to honour the transcendent – the unexplainable. To give perspective to our own lives. To show that we have choices; life doesn’t just happen. What we are feeling has been felt by others.
Fiction is a lie that tells the truth. Human beings both shape stories and are shaped by stories Literature is an art form that takes us to the farthest reaches of language. We do not have the eyes of an eagle, or the ears of a dog, or the smell of a bear. Instead we are able to process language in complex ways and we have the physical capability to speak and write.
Why do we read stories? What processes or approaches do we use to figure out meaning? LITERARY CRITICISM Formalism: key elements within the story-setting, plot structure, character development, symbol, theme. Reader Response Theory: Personal Experiences that connect with the story. Emphasis is on the reader and the experience of reading. Archetypal Criticism: observation of patterns among stories. Marxist Criticism: investigation of the social, historical and cultural milieu of the story/author. Feminist Criticism: investigation of gender roles. Structuralism: observation of the language structures.