In this PowerPoint, you will find the terms that you will need to know for tests, discussions, and essays.

Stories and songs emerged as an oral means of communication and preserving the past: tales of heroic battles or struggles, myths, or religious beliefs. In a time before mass communication, the oral tradition enabled people to pass down stories, most often in the form of rhyming poems. Thus, the earliest forms of fiction were in fact poetry. Eventually written down, these extended narratives developed into epics, which were long narrative poems about heroic figures whose actions determine the fate of a nation or entire race. What other stories or films do you know of that follow this common theme?

A NARRATIVE tells a story by presenting events in some logical or orderly way. A work of FICTION is a narrative that, for the most part, originates in the imagination of the author rather than in history or fact. The word “fiction” comes from the Latin “fictio”, which means “a shaping, a counterfeiting”

Dramatic Irony: when the reader or audience knows something that the character has yet to realize. Examples? Verbal Irony: when the character says the opposite of what is really meant. Examples? Situational Irony: when something is about to happen to a character or characters who expect the opposite. Examples?

An Allusion is a reference in a text to a person, place, or thing—fictitious or real. These references are often to literature, history, mythology, or the Bible.

The Protagonist is the central character in a literary work. This character usually initiates and is in conflict in the narrative. The Antagonist is the character or force that opposes the protagonist in the narrative. Remember, the antagonist may be another character, society itself, a force of nature, or even—in modern literature—conflicting impulses within the protagonist.

This type of novel emerged from Spain in the 17 th century. This type of narrative is often told in episodes, or adventures, and it is very often a satirical work. This form of narrative, usually a novel, presents the life of a likable scoundrel or rogue who is at odds with respectable society. The narrator of a picaresque was originally a “picaro”, which is Spanish means “rascal” or “rogue”.

A novel in which the story is told by way of letters written by one or more of the characters.

Realism denotes a period or literary movement of writing wherein writers strove to portray everyday events and people in a realistic fashion. Realism refers to a movement in 19 th century European literature that focused on the middle class rather than aristocracy. It rejected idealism, romanticism, and elitism.

The style, genre, or movement of writing called Magical Realism is marked by it imaginative content, vivid effects, and lingering mystery. It is a type of contemporary narrative that combines the fantastic, magical elements with realistic details. A writer like Garcia Marquez can create a fictional world where the miraculous and the everyday live side by side. Example: “ The world had been sad since Tuesday”

World War I Recruiting Poster During the early 20 th century, the literary movement known as Modernism was established by writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, who: 1)Reacted to the increasing complexity of a changing world 2)M0urned the passing of old ways under the pressures of modernity World War I, Urbanization, and The Rise of Industrialism contributed to this literary reaction.

After Modernism, hence “post”, a movement called Postmodernism emerged. Postmodern artists reacted to the confines and limitations placed upon form and meaning by opening ideas of interpretation. Many postmodernists confronted, with their writing, the changing society, the future, and the impact of technology.

Naturalism, sometimes considered an extreme form of realism, rejected unrealistic plots and sentimentality of melodrama. Unlike realism, naturalism sought to explore the depths of the human condition. Influenced by Freud, Darwin, & Marx, naturalism portrays human beings as higher-order animals who are driven by basic instincs—especially hunger, fear, greed, and sexuality.

When a writer is considered a local colorist, this writer has used a specific regional material—unique social customs, dress, habits, and speech patterns.

The participant narrator in a work of literature is written in the first person. Such a character may be a protagonist (Huck Finn) or may be an observer, or minor character standing a little to one side, watching a story unfold that mainly involves someone else. A good example of this is Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. He is a narrator and minor character who focuses the story on Jay Gatsby.

Written in THIRD PERSON and can possess different levels of knowledge about characters  Omniscient or All-knowing: sees into any or all of the characters’ minds, souls, feelings, and motivations  Limited Omniscience: sees into one character  Objective: does not see into any characters, but merely reports events from outside