英美文学赏析.pptx

APPRECIATION OF THE SELECTED READINGS IN BRITISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURECONTENTSWhat is the literature?Fiction PoetryDrama PART ONEWHAT IS LITERATUREWHAT IS LITERATURETwo branches of human writingArts ScienceScience:Based on seeking facts and truth.It brings advantages to humankind and these advantages are valuable in our daily lives.Man seeks truth because curiosity is in his nature.Art,as one of its major function,seeks value in the beauty of creation.Artists primary concern is to compose or produce works that are unique,that have quality,and that last forever.Art is free because an artist has the freedom to imagine.Literature is considered as Art.DEFINITION OF LITERATURELiterature refers to pieces of work belonging to one of four major branches or genres:Fiction:short stories and novels.Non-Fiction:prose,biographies and autobiographies.Poetry:free verse,blank verse,sonnets,ballads,songs,etc.Drama:theatrical plays.Function of literature（readers response)To entertainTo teachTo thinkDEFINITION OF LITERATUREThe definition of 14th century:polite learning through reading.a man of literature or a man of letters=a man of wide reading,“literacy.”The definition of 18th century:Practice and profession of writing.The definition of 19th century:the high skills of writing in the special context of high imaginationDEFINITION OF LITERATUREThe definition of 20th century Robert Frosts definition:performance in wordsModern definition:literature as language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages,characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality,intellectual and emotional appeal.SUMMARY OF LITERATURES DEFINITION Literature is one form of art with imaginative or creative beauty involving the dynamic relationship between the object and the perceiver,in which the writers tell stories or create contexts by employing their imagination and expose their emotions and opinions in order to entertain and instruct the readers,while those who read their works can acquire knowledge,enlarge the horizon of their viewpoints and purify their feelings.HOW TO STUDY LITERATURE?Historical studyIllustrate the historical development of literature.Formal studyBe familiar with the elements of a literary work,eg:plot,character,setting,point of view,etc;answer some basic questions about the text itself.Thematic analysisWhat does a novel,a story,a poem,a play or an essay talk about?Close reading:guessing by detailsMAJOR FORMS OF LITERATURENon-Fiction（纪实文学）Non-fiction(or nonfiction)is the form of any narrative,account,or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be factual.Essays,journals,diaries,documentaries,histories,scientific papers,photographs,biographies,textbooks,travel books,blueprints,technical documentation,user manuals,diagrams,some journalism,letters,magazine articles,etc.Fiction（虚构文学/小说）:In an inclusive sense,fiction is any literary narrative,whether in prose or verse,which is invented instead of being an account of events that in fact happened.In a narrower sense,however,fiction denotes only narratives that are written in prose(the novel and short story),and sometimes is used simply as a synonym for the novel.MAJOR FORMS OF LITERATUREBy Concrete GenreProse is an inclusive term for all discourse,spoken or written,which is not patterned into the lines either of metric verse or of free verse.Fiction Poetry Drama PART TWOFICTIONDEFINITION OF FICTIONIn an inclusive sense,fiction is any literary narrative,whether in prose or verse,which is invented instead of being an account of events that in fact happened.In a narrower sense,however,fiction denotes only narratives that are written in prose(the novel and short story),and sometimes is used simply as a synonym for the novel.TYPES OF FICTIONBy relation to realityRealistic fictionNon-realistic fictionSemi-FictionBy genreNovels,short stories,fables,fairy tales,plays,poetry,comic books,and video games.By length Novel:50,000 or more.is now applied to a great variety of writings that have in common only the attribute of being extended works of fiction written in prose.Flash fiction:less than 2,000 words.Short story:2,000 to 7,500 words.Novelette:7,500 to 17,500 words.Novella:17,500 to 50,000 words.ELEMENTS OF FICTIONPlot:story line(s)of a fiction including all events and actions taking place in the fictionExpositionForeshadowingRising actionConflict:Person vs.self;Person vs.person;Person vs.society;Person vs.nature;Person vs.supernatural;Person vs.machine/technologyClimax Falling action Resolution Types of plots Chronological order/FlashbackMain plot/subplotELEMENTS OF FICTION Character:the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work,who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral,intellectual,and emotional qualities.Point-of-view character;Protagonist Antagonist;Static character Dynamic character;Foil Supporting character;Minor characterCharacterizationShowing/telling Appearance/setting ActionOthers comment/DialogueELEMENTS OF FICTION Setting:the general localehistorical time,and social circumstances in which its action occurs;the setting of a single episode or scene within such a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place.Spatial settingTemporal setting Cultural settingCompare“The Story of an Hour”and“The Black Cat”ELEMENTS OF FICTIONThemeCentral or dominating ideaWhat the reader should knowELEMENTS OF FICTIONPoint of viewThe vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story,or who tall the story or how it is told.Third-person point of view(non-participant narrator):the narrator is someone outside the story proper who refers to all the characters in the story by name,or as he,she,“they.Omniscient point of view:the narrator knows everything that needs to be known about the agents,actions,and events,and has privileged access to the characters thoughts,feelings,and motives;also that the narrator is free to move at will in time and place,to shift from character to character,and to report(or conceal)their speech,doings,and states of consciousness.ELEMENTS OF FICTIONLimited omniscient point of view:The narrator tells the story in the third person,but stays inside the confines of what is perceived,thought,remembered and felt by a single character(or at most by very few characters)within the story.Objective or dramatic point of view:The author tells the story,using the third person,but is limited to reporting what the characters say or do;the author does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelingsELEMENTS OF FICTIONFirst-person point of view(participant narrator):the narrator speaks as I,and is to a greater or lesser degree a participant in the story.Narrator as major characterNarrator as minor characterSecond-person point of view:the story gets told solely,or at least primarily,as an address by the narrator to someone he calls by the second-person pronoun you.This form of narration occurred in occasional passages of traditional fiction,but has been exploited in a sustained way only during the latter part of the twentieth century and then only rarely;the effect is of a virtuoso performance.E.g.Jay Mclnerney in Bright Lights,BigCity(1984)ELEMENTS OF FICTIONStyle:the distinctive manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects,composed of diction and syntax(used to identify the distinctive quality of writers craft;to understand the artistic effects achieved by those stylistic devices used by a writer;to judge how effectively an author ha dealt with the style he/she has chosen).analyzed in such terms as the rhetorical situation and aim;characteristic diction,or choice of words;type of sentence structure and syntax;and the density and kinds of figurative language.Diction:denotative/connotative meaning;part of speech;word length and construction;level of usage(standard/non-standard);imagery;the figurative devices.Syntax:short/long;spare/involved;simple/compound/complex;loose/periodic/balancedhigh/middle/low style-classical rhetoricELEMENTS OF FICTIONTone:the authors implicit attitude toward the people,place,and events in fiction.Irony:A device used by the author to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.Verbal irony:saying one thing,meaning the oppositeSituational irony:an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.Dramatic irony:the contrast between what a character believes or says and what the reader understands to be true.ELEMENTS OF FICTIONSymbol is a term applied to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something,or has a range of reference,beyond itselfImages,objects,settings,events,and characters that convey meaning beyond their literal significance.Traditional(conventional)symbol:with symbolic meaning shared by human beingsOriginal symbol:with symbolic meaning particular to special situationAllegory:a technique for expanding the meaning of a literary work by having the characters,events,and setting represent certain abstract ideas,qualities,or concepts,usually moral,religious or political in nature,e.g.The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan.FICTION APPRECIATION“The Story of an Hour”by Kate Chopin“Everyday Use”by Alice Walker“Araby”by James Joyce“A Rose for Emily”by William Faulkner“The Ministers Black Veil”by Nathaniel Hawthorne“The Black Cat”by Edgar Allan PoeThe Great Gatsby by F.S.FitzgeraldWinesburg,Ohio by Sherwood AndersonTheir Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston(film)The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kinston