1. By Isaac Bashevis Singer
THE SON FROM AMERICA
By Isaac Bashevis Singer

2. Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991)
Born in a small village in Poland, near Warsaw
Journalist and writer in Warsaw
Wrote in Yiddish
Emigrated to the US in 1935
Switched from Yiddish to English
Nobel prize in literature, 1978

3. THE SON FROM AMERICA
Why were Berl and Berlcha surprised to see their son?
Why didn’t Berl and Berlcha use the money?
Why did Samuel come back?
How do the dialogues characterize Samuel, his parents and the villagers?
What is the role of the goat in the story?
What is the implied author’s position?

4. The Goat in the story Illustration: Marc Chagall, “Me and My Village”
The goat’s point of view:
Defamiliarisation
Singer’s vegetarianism
Anthropomorphic images in folklore (animals as persons).

5. THE PLOT
STAGES OF THE PLOT

6. THE PLOT The succession of events based on causality:
“Why did that happen?”
“Why is this happening?”
“What is going to happen next – and why?”
“Is anything going to happen?”
Cuddon, J.A. Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. London: Penguin Books, 1998.

7. THE PLOT ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
“has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it. A middle is that which follows something as some other thing follows it. A well constructed plot, therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these principles.” Aristotle, Poetics: VII

8. Stages of the Plot 1. Exposition: Setting Characters Possible conflict
Reader’s expectations
The title is the ultimate exposition.

9. Stages of the Plot 2. Conflict formation:
A clash between opposing forces
3. Development:
Complications of the conflict

10. Stages of the Plot 4. Crisis/Climax:
A crisis is a moment when tension significantly builds up; there can be more than one crisis.
The climax is the decisive point of the plot, its peak.
5. Denouement (“untying of the knot”)/Resolution:
The outcome of the climax, the resolution of the conflict.
May involve a deus ex machina – an unpredicted turn of events or a unexpected character.

11. Stages of the Plot Gustav Freytag’s Pyramid (1863)
NOT ALL STAGES OF THE PLOT ARE NECESSARILY PRESENT IN A STORY.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MOST AND THE LEAST OBLIGATORY ONES?
Gustav Freytag’s Pyramid (1863)

12. ORDER OF EVENTS CRONOLOGICAL ORDER REVERSED ORDER
IN MEDIAS RES (“IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS”)
A FLASHBACK
A FLASHFORWARD/FORESHADOWING
MIXED-UP SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

13. BEGINNING IN MEDIAS RES
“THEY order, said I, this matter better in France. - You have been in France? said my gentleman, turning quick upon me, with the most civil triumph in the world. - Strange! quoth I, debating the matter with myself, That one and twenty miles sailing, for 'tis absolutely no further from Dover to Calais, should give a man these rights: - I'll look into them: so, giving up the argument, - I went straight to my lodgings, put up half a dozen shirts and a black pair of silk breeches, - "the coat I have on," said I, looking at the sleeve, "will do;" - took a place in the Dover stage.”
A Sentimental Journey Through France And Italy (1768) by Laurence Sterne, the opening paragraph of the novel.

14. ENDING IN MEDIAS RES
“Upon my word and honour, Madame, said I, - stretching my arm out of bed by way of asseveration. (I was going to have added, that I would not have trespassed against the remotest idea of decorum for the world). But the fille de chambre hearing there were words between us, and fearing that hostilities would ensue in course, had crept silently out of her closet, and it being totally dark, had stolen so close to our beds, that she had got herself into the narrow passage which separated them, and had advanced so far up as to be in a line betwixt her mistress and me. So that when I stretch'd out my hand I caught hold of the fille de chambre's – ” A Sentimental Journey Through France And Italy by Laurence Sterne, the final paragraph of the novel.