Fiction+Elements

=== ** __Allegory__: ** In written narrative this involves a continuous parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story, so that its persons and events correspond to their equivalents in a system of ideas or a chain of events external to the tale. An allegory is also a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. Abstract qualities are often given human shapes, such as we might find in apublic statue of justice or liberty. ===

=== ** __Archetype__: ** a symbol, theme, setting, or character-type that appears in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals so frequently or prominently as to suggest (to certain critics) that it embodies some essential element of "universal" human experience. The most fundamental of patterns in plot include the quest, the descent into the underworld, and the feud. ===

=== __** Character or Characterization **__ : a person portrayed in a novel, drama, film, or other artistic work; features that distinguish one person from another. This may include: physical, ethical (in accordance with accepted principles or right or wrong governing the conduct of a group), moral (judging individual human character). ===

How we learn about characters:
=== 1) physical appearances 2) what they say and how they say it 3) what other characters say about them 4) their actions or manners 5) what the narrator says about the character 6) authorial devices: titles, names, repetition, etc. ===

=== __** Conflict **__ : the complication or struggle between two opposing forces. Without conflict there is no story. Conflicts have been generalized to fit in certain patterns. Each conflict is more specific than this type listing suggests, but for some it is a useful way to classify types of conflict: ===

=== ** __Genre__: ** "the French term for a type, species, or class of composition. A literary genre is a recognizable and established category of written work employing such common conventions as will prevent readers or audiences from mistaking it for another kind. Much of the confusion surrounding the term arises from the fact that it is used simultaneously for the most basic modes of literary art (lyric, narrative, dramatic0, for the broadest categories of composition (poetry, prose fiction), and for more specialized sub-categories, which are defined according to several different criteria including formal structure (sonnet, picaresque novel), length (novella, epigram), intention (satire), effect (comedy), origin (folktale), and subject matter (pastoral, science fiction). While some genres, such as pastoral elegy or the melodrama, have numerous conventions governing subject, style, and form, others--like the novel--have no agreed rules, although they may include several more limited subgenres" (Chris Baldick, //The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms// 90-91). ===

=== ** __Naturalism__: ** a kind of realism, usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. In fiction it aspires to sociological objectivity, with detailed and fully depicted investigations into often unexplored corners of modern society. ===

=== __** Point of view **__ : the angle from which the story is being told (first person, third person, third omniscient, etc.). The position the writer chooses from which to show or tell the reader what happens in the work. ===

=== ** __Realism__: ** normally refers to problems of ordinary people in unremarkable circumstances, presented with close attention to details of physical setting and complexities of social life. The term sometimes refers to a literary method (detailed, accurate descriptions) or an attitude (rejection of romanticism, idealism, escapism in favor of facing actual social problems of life). ===

=== __** Structure **__ : overall framework. Structure may relate to chapters, books, volumes; climax, anti-climax, denouement; beginning, middle, end. Structure is also the arrangement or interrelation of all the parts of the whole work--the manner of organizing characters, action, plot, theme, etc. ===

=== ** __Surrealism__: ** an anti-rational movement of imagination in European (mostly French) art and literature in the 1920s and 1930s. Surrealism seeks to break down the boundaries between rationality and irrationality, exploring dreams, hallucinations, and sexual desire. ===

=== __** Theme **__ : a basic or ruling idea of a literary work; it may be an idea that is developed and repeated enough to call attention to itself. Theme should not be confused with moral (goodness, correctness, rightness, good vs. evil). ===

=== __** Tone **__ : attitude toward audience (implied) and possibly toward the subject. Tone may be sombre, formal, informal, satiric, comic, etc. Usually comes from without. For example, it may come from the narrator; sometimes, however, the narrator is a participant in the story. ===