1. Chapter 1: Reading the Story By: Lauren Cronan Period A September 16, 2013

2.  Enjoyment & Understanding  Novels that entertain = video games/crossword puzzles  Makes life less tedious and stressful Why should we read?

3.  Intended to only entertain the reader  Examples- legal thrillers and romance novels  Usually novels  Appear in mass market magazines  Only created to make money  Helps individuals escape stress  Takes reader away from the world  Analogy – writers=inventors who devise a plan for reader’s diversion Commercial Fiction

4.  1.) hero/heroine  2.) defined plot  3.) happy ending  4.) general theme Expectations for Commercial Fiction

5.  Written with serious artistic intentions to broaden, deepen, and sharpen reader’s awareness of life  Plunges one more deeply into real world  Usually short stories  Pleasure + Understanding = literary fiction  Original premise with intriguing characters  Should read 2x to fully grasp concept(s)  Fiction that highlights human life/behavior with creativeness and power  Analogy – writers=explorers Literary Fiction

6.  1.) first time you read – enjoy and become familiar with story  2.) slowly and deliberately read story again  Keep an open mind; expect the unexpected  Ask why the story is a certain way or why the author explores a character’s inner life How to read Literary Fiction

7.  Each is not clear-cut  Many seem like the other rather than just one  Ex. – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Jane Eyre (1847), Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, and John Updike  Each term should only be applied to novels  Dickens wrote both commercial and literary novels  Facts, a moral, or an element of fantasy do not determine whether or not a novel is literary or commercial Commercial or Literary?

8.  Usually literary fiction  Ancient fairy tales and fables  Meaning starting to change  Have developed as an art form  Authors can write anything due to not worrying about mass audience  Length allows one to reread without wasting too much time Short Stories