英美小说要素解析1

1、Office: 9308-2PN: 646088 (138 5826 9200) Whats the course about?What is fiction?What are the vital elements in a work of fiction?Plot?Characters?Setting?Point of view?Theme?Style?Tone?Symbolism?Allegory? To better analyze, understand and appreciate what we read.How to learn these elements?By reading

2、 sample readings provided in the textbook.Lets turn to the CONTENTS to take a look at the layout of the textbook.1. Be here! Attendance will be recorded and it is part of your final score.2. Dont be late. If you are, say youre sorry. 3. Dont have any kind of food here. 4. No cell phone can be used i

3、n the classroom. Dont let anyone see your cell phone while you are here.5. DO NOT SLEEP!DO NOT FROWN!Please turn to the preface.After that, we will take a look at the Editors Note.Books: fiction and non-fictionFiction: imaginationFiction: novels, novellas, short storiesA novel: about human experienc

4、e, through a connected sequence of events, with a number of persons, in a specific settingA short story: brief, a single effect (more focused)A novella: between a short story and a novel in length and complexity/wiki/NovelAnovelnovelis a book of longnarrativeinliteraryprose.Pro

5、se: Prose: the most typical form oflanguage, applying ordinarygrammatical structureandnatural flow of speechrather thanrhythmic structure(as in traditionalpoetry).Prose is different from poetry because it is not rhythimic.Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of

6、 the narrative, theplot, the wayrealityis created in the works offiction, the fascination of thecharacterstudy, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novels artistic merits.The above requirements make a novel different from factual history.So a novel is imaginary.Fictionalityand th

7、e presentation in anarrativeare the two features most commonly invoked to distinguish novels from histories. Novels can, on the other hand, depict the social, political, and personal realities of a place and period with a clarity and detail historians would not dare to explore. Novels are supposed t

8、o show qualities ofliteratureandart.A novel will be analyzed with a look at the almost timeless value it is supposed to show in the hands of private readers as a work of art.A specific novel can have these eternal qualities of art, this deepermeaning aninterpretationtries to reveal.http:/ M. Forster

9、 was a successful novelist and later an academic. Three of his novels,A Room with a View （看得见风景的房间）(1908),Howards End（霍华德庄园）(1910) andA Passage to India（印度之行）(1924) have been made into films. 围绕家产继承权和女主人公的婚姻铺叙了一个传统的“故事”。但是，在更重要的层面上，这是一部有关英国以及人类文明的寓言。He makes a clear distinction between story and plo

10、t, and emphases the relationship between character and incident. And his discussion of fantasy, prophecy and rhythm encourages us that truly great writing goes beyond storytelling.Astory isa narrative of events arranged in their time sequence it simply tells us what happened and in what order.This e

11、mphasis on chronological sequence is a difference from real life. Our real lives also unfold through time but have the added feature that some experiences have greater value and meaning than others. Value has no role in a story, which is concerned withthe life in timerather thanthe life by values.A

12、novelist can only begin to explore the value of human experiences by developing the characters of the story. But Forster emphasizes that characters are not real people; rather they arelikereal people.Sometimes characters can seem to be more real than the people around us, and this is because a novel

13、ist is able to reveal the charactershidden life. Forster distinguishes between flat characters and round characters.The really flat character can be expressed in one sentence. These characters are easily recognized when first introduced and easily remembered afterwards.A round character by contrast

14、has further dimensions to their personality, which are revealed as events demand them. A flat character never surprises us with their behaviour, but a round character may well surprise us with these unsuspected aspects of their nature; andthe test of a round character is whether it is capable of sur

15、prising in a convincing way.Dickens wrote flat characters superbly well.Nearly every one can be summed up in a sentence, and yet there is this wonderful feeling of human depth. Probably the immense vitality of Dickens causes his characters to vibrate a little, so that they borrow his life and appear

16、 to lead one of their own. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died,” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief,”is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.Consider the

17、 death of the queen. If it is in a story we say “and then?” If it is in a plot we ask “why?” “The king died and then the queen died,”“The king died, and then the queen died of grief,”Weve discussed the definition, key features and key elements of and in fiction.Source: Wikipedia and Forsters Aspects

18、 of the Novel1. What is fiction?2. How is fiction different from history?3. What kind of language is used in fiction?4. What are the three genres of fiction? How are they different from each other?5. How much do you know about E. M.Forster and Aspects of the Novel?A plot is a sequence of interrelate

19、d actions or events.A plot is the plan of development of the actions.A plot is a plan or groundwork for a story, based on conflicting human motivations, with the actions resulting from believable and realistic human response.In a well-plotted story, nothing is irrelevant; everything is related. 牵一发而

20、动全身Conflict: oppositionTypes of conflict:External conflict: betweenMan and nature;Man and society;Man and manInternal conflict:Within one character: ones inner struggleExposition: beginning, background, introductionComplication: the rising action, development, intensificationCrisis: the climax, grea

21、test intensity, the turning pointFalling action: subsidesResolution: final, equilibrium, conclusion, denouementEqui librium1. 相称;平衡;均衡2. 均势3. (心情的)平静The customary way: chronological plottingNon-chronological plotting: e.g. flashback 闪回1. What is plot?2. What is conflict? 3. What are the types of conflict?4. What are the five stages of plot?5. What is the customary way of ordering the plot?6. What is flashback?Reading assignments:Christmas Day in the MorningA Rose for