Literary Genres

Fiction• Ancient: Fables, Tales • Modern: Novels & Short Stories

• Poetry • Drama• Biography and Autobiography• The Essay

A Fable• The Oak and the Reeds

A VERY LARGE OAK was uprooted by the wind and thrown across a stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: "I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds." They replied, "You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape." Stoop to conquer.

Fiction

• Ancient: Fables, Tales – Not Realistic– No details– Quick and simple plots– Nonhuman characters– They aim at a quick and simple moral (lesson)

Modern Fiction (Men in The Sun)It was not too uncomfortable riding on the

back of the huge lorry. Although the sun was pouring its inferno down on them without any respite, the breeze that they felt because of the lorry’s speed lessened the intensity of the heat. Abu Qais had climbed up on top with Marwan, and they sat side by side on the edge of the tank. They had drawn lots, and it was Assad’s turn to sit beside the driver-----------

Modern Fiction Novels & Short Stories

Verisimilitude: Realistic (life-like) presentation of events

Real (human characters) Minute details Not reality but an illusion of reality Modern fiction is the genre of the Middle Class. The

Industrial Revolution created the Middle Class and the novel became the new form of literature which represented the difficulties encountering Middle Class people.

History, Biography/Autobiography & FictionHistory: an objective presentation of realityBiography/Autobiography: a subjective

presentation of reality.Fiction: An illusion of reality.

Assignments for Research and Discussion Find a fable to read to your classmatesFind a long quotation from a short story or a

novel that you knowFind a quotation from an autobiography or a

biography Try to remember the content of today’s

lecture so that you engage in a discussion next time

Make a list of the elements of fiction that you know

Elements of Fiction• Plot • Characters• Narrator’s Point of view• Symbolism• Atmosphere • Language• Style• Irony• Time and Place• Themes

Plot• Plot:A plot in fiction is the arrangement of events in

a story. It has an exposition, a conflict (complication of events and a conclusion), and a resolution.

Plots differ with reference to the above arrangements. For example: there are stories which do not have a climax or a resolution. The arrangement of the parts of the plot is the writer’s choice

CharactersThere are Flat and Round characters.A Round character: a major character

(usually the protagonist) who experiences change.

A Flat character: a minor character

NarratorNarrator’s point of view: First PersonThird Person:A Narrator can also be:

OmniscientPartially omniscientObjective Dramatic

The Stream of Consciousness Technique One modern and sophisticated technique of

narration is the Stream of Consciousness Technique.

In the S of C techniques the writer introduces to us a narrator who oscillates between past, present and future in a haphazard manner; without attention to the chronological sequence of events

Some critics describe the S of C techniques as “human mind at work”; human mind is not rhythmic in its perception of things

Aesthetic Distance• We need to be aware of the difference

between the author and the writer: they are not the same.

• The aesthetic distance is the distance that the writer maintains between himself and the narrator.

• Students usually confuse the narrator with the writer. In fiction the author does not appear in the story or the novel. It is the narrator who tells the story.

Narrator/Author What if the narrator is the same as the

Author?The work then becomes an autobiography

and not fiction.

Symbolism• There are conventional symbols: symbols that

are used by many writers and that are known to almost all people. The Dove: a symbol of Peace

• There are private symbols that are used by one writer in one work of literature

• Symbols are naturally known to allow for different interpretations.

Atmosphere The atmosphere of the story is generally

created by the author and it contributes to the meaning of the story. An atmosphere can be described as dark, sunny, gloomy, rainy, silent, boisterous ---etc.

A protagonist who initiates a journey at night may be seen as a fearless adventurer or a gloomy ignorant mishap

LanguageThe language of a story or a novel may be

one of the concerns of the critic. The language of a story may be described as slang, standard, difficult, poetic, prosaic ---etc.

The language of a story may not be described as difficult if we, as foreign readers, find very many new words. This reality may be attributed to our language proficiency and not the difficulty of the language of the story

StyleStyle is the way the writer presents his/her

storyThe style of a story can be described as lucid,

boring, tense, complicated, sophisticated ---etc.

A writer may choose at certain episodes to use long sentences; short sentences at other episodes.

Time and PlaceWriters usually locate their stories within a

specific time and placeAwareness of the time and place of a story

illuminates our perceptionA story located in London during the post

World War era may inform our reading of that story.

IronyThe simple definition of irony entails saying

something and meaning just the opposite of what is said.

The whole story or parts of it can be ironic.If one says “I love having four exams in one

day), s/he certainly means the opposite of what s/he says.

ThemesThe theme of the story is the message that

the writer aims at conveying to us.The message that the writer intends to

convey to us may not be the same message that we find. This reality is referred to as the intentional fallacy.

A writer may intend to present to us the negative consequences of prejudice and we as readers may find the same work a terrible source of prejudice.