Introduction to Narrative Giovanni Boskovich LACHSA English Department
Is reading still in vogue? Reading is like thinking, like praying, like talking to a friend, like expressing your ideas, like listening to other people's ideas, like listening to music, like looking at the view, like taking a walk on the beach. Roberto Bolaño
What is FICTION? Fiction is defined as any imaginative re-creation of life in prose narrative form. All fiction is a falsehood of sorts because it relates events that never actually happened to people (characters) who never existed, at least not in the manner portrayed in the stories. However, fiction writers aim at creating legitimate untruths, since they seek to demonstrate meaningful insights into the human condition. Therefore, fiction is untrue in the absolute sense, but true in the universal sense.
Narrator: Narrator: the perspective that the story is observed, told, and recounted from. Consider these aspects: A. Pronoun p-o-v: First (I, We)/Second (You)/Third Person narrator (He, She, It, They] B. Narrator s degree of Omniscience [Full, Limited, Partial, None]* C. Narrator s degree of Objectivity [Complete, None, Some (Editorial?), Ironic]* D. Narrator s degree of Objectivity [Complete, None, Some (Editorial?), Ironic]* D. Narrator s Un/Reliability
Narrator Continued: A. Omniscient - a story told in the third person; the narrator's knowledge, control, and prerogatives are unlimited, allowing authorial subjectivity. B. Limited Omniscient - a story told in the third person in which the narrative voice is associated with a major or minor character who is not able to see/know all, may only be able to relate the thoughts of one or some characters but not others, may not know what happened off stage or in the past. C. First Person - the story is told from the first person "I personal point-of-view, usually that of the main character.
Narrator Continued D.Interior Monologue first-person, train of thought overheard by the reader (NOT spoken out loud as is a monologue), or sometimes overheard and reported by an omniscient narrator; other times it occurs as stream of consciousness ( The Jilting of Granny Weatherall ). E, Subjective Narration - first person, narrator seems unreliable, tries to get readers to share his/her side or to assume values or views not usually presumed by the reader. F. Objective or Dramatic - the opposite of the omniscient; displays an objectivity; compared to a roving camera with sound. Very little of the past or the future is given; the story is set in the present. It has the most speed and the most action; it relies heavily on external action and dialogue, and it offers no opportunities for interpretation by the narrator.
Framed Narrative Essentially, a framed narrative is a story within a story (e.g. Heart of Darkness, The Catcher in the Rye).
Setting Setting is essentially historical context, geographical setting, and cultural milieu. Think: WHERE, WHEN, and under WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES. Time Period, duration of the story?
Plot: Exposition and/or Rising Action: essentially, the beginning of the narrative that provides necessary details to understanding and contextualizing the story. 2)Diversion: any episode prior to the climax that does not contribute directly to the rising action or add to the suspense (example: comic relief in tragedy). 3. Climax: the moment in the story at which a crisis reaches its highest intensity and its potential resolution, the turning point 4. Dénouement ( unknotting ) or Falling Action - IN MEDIA RES: Latin for "into the middle of things." It usually describes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle usually at some crucial point in the action.
Narrator s Tone Just like verse, you should examine the narrator s tone and how it is established in the narrative.
Jim by Roberto Bolano What type of narrator is in Bolano s story? POV? What is the setting(s)? How does it impact the overall meaning? What is the tone of the story? Is it a framed narrative? Theme(s)? How are they established? Symbols?
Theme For homework, you re going to annotate the short story by Raymond Carver, specifically looking at theme and how theme is established. You should use a brief TPR approach with the short story s title in quotation marks (e.g. Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes ). You must include three - four shrewdly selected quotes that are cited, and an analysis that is reflective of your thesis. Include some concise concluding sentence.