QCR520 Approaches

- Introduction to prose -

Questions

• What are you reading now?• What did you use to read as a teenager?• What is THE text that you would love to teach in a

literature class?

What is Prose

• Prose is writing that resembles everyday speech. (Wiki)

• books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcast media, letters, history, philosophy, biography, and many other forms of communication

What is the Novel?

• narrative (i.e. story) • fiction (vs fact) • yet "realistic" (vs "fantastic")• prose (vs poetry)• long (vs the short story)

Elements of Prose

• Plot• Characterisation• Theme• Setting• Narration/POV• Irony• Imagery Read “Analyzing Fiction” Handout (avail on BB)

Genre

• Genre = Type– Tragedy vs Comedy– Historical / Biography / Documentary– Adventure / Action / Military / Western / Crime / Mystery– Fantasy / Sci-fi / Horror / – Romance / Comedy

• Is the concept of genre obsolete?

Setting

• Place, time, social environment, • Mood and atmosphere• When and where is the story set?• Relationship between place and character and

theme

Character

• What are the facts concerning a person?• Physical descriptions, dress, dialogue, thoughts and

emotions, actions, relationships, associations• What is the person like? What adjectives would you use to

describe him/her?• Why do you think he/she is like that? Cite specific

examples.• Are there any contradictions in the character? Is he/she

interesting? Does the character do what he says he will?• Imagine this character really existed. Would you like the

person? Why?

Character• Is he a flat or round character?• What role does he/she play? How do the characters

contribute to the theme? What finally happens to them?• How do we learn what the character is like?

by his actions / by his speech / by his thoughtsby what other people say/think of them

• What does this person represent in the story? What role does he/she play in the story (in other words, why is he/she there?)? How would the story change without this character?

• How does this character compare with others like him/her?• Do the characters develop or do they remain static?

Your Turn

• Write a singles ad for yourself, or for some well-known fictional character

Theme

• What issues are the writer interested in?(e.g. love, death, revenge, hope, evil, war, youth)

• How does the writer approach these issues?

Plot

• Plot/Narrative = Pattern of causal events• Style = How a story is told• Structure = How a story is organised• What is the story about?• When and where is the story set?• Is there a conflict in the plot? How is it resolved?• How is the plot structured?

• SOW is often not prescriptive– It is a guide to ensure everybody knows what the students

are required to know by the end of the term – how you get there is often left to the individual tutor in his/her respective classes.

Narrative / POV

• Omniscient• Limited Omniscient• 2nd Person• 1st Person• Stream of Consciousness

Narrative / POV

1st Person• Narrator is character

• More personal • Identify with character• Immediate / engaging

• Things from only one POV• Subjectivity of narrator

3rd Person• Implied narrator outside

text who knows all• More distant• Less moving

• Perspective of different characters

• Reader makes own judgement

Imagery

• MOTIFS– Is there anything that recurs to create a pattern?– How do the motifs contribute to character and theme? – What do these motifs represent?

Style

• How does the author tell the story?• What kind of language is used?• Why does the author tell the story in this way?

Style

• Theme (General/Specific; Banal/Profound; Accessible/hidden)• Vocabulary (Simple/Complex; Poetic/Matter-of-fact;

Emotive/Neutral) Tone (comic/cynical/sympathetic/ colloquial/didactic/ dramatic/playful/objective/analytical attitude, intention, stance)

• Rhythm (Rugged/Smooth; Flowing/Staccato; Varied/Monotonous)

• Sentence Construction (Short/long; Varied/Patterned)• Imagery (Visual/Sensual; Vivid/subtle; original/conventional)• Sound (harsh/mellifuous; gutteral/sibilant; rhyme, use of

dialogue)

Irony

• Irony is not sarcasm (only one answer) or ambiguity (when there are two answers)

• Irony = Discrepancy or Incongruity• Irony = what is and what seems to be• Irony = what is said/done and what is truly meant• Irony = what is expected to happen and what

actually happens• Dramatic irony/Situational irony/verbal irony/tragic

irony

Your Turn (if there is time)

• Taximan’s Story• Little Red Riding Hood

How do I respond?

• Do you like the story?• Which part of the story do you like best? Do you find

anything interesting or unusual? Why?• How does the story make you feel?• Do you think there is a hidden meaning behind the

text? Are there any signs I need to read?• Why do I respond the way I do?

For next Wednesday:

• Think of a novel that you would like to teach.– If you can, please bring a copy of the novel to class– Think of a passage that you would like to use for a context

passage for the exams and print the extract out.