西洋小說賞析 :

1. 西洋小說賞析: 中興大學外文系 副教授周淑娟 Spring 2014

2. A Clarification • Oral report in Chinese • In mid-term and final exams questions are given in both Chinese and English. You can answer in either language.

3. What is the difference between fiction and literature? (repeated for new comers) • Fiction is a work of the imagination or invention (虛構), which contrasts with non-fiction (which is usually thought to be based on facts). Written works like novels, short stories, plays, and poems are fictional.

4. Fiction as a Genre (文類) of Literature • 3 basic genres of literature: ---Poetry, Drama, Fiction • 3 important subgenres (次文類) of fiction ---Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story and novella. The word is from the Latin fictiō,“the act of making, fashioning, or molding.” (<www.briticana.com>

5. Novel vs. Short Story • Novel is like a cutting along the grain (of life or an event)----縱切面 • Short story is like a cutting across the grain (of life or an event)—橫切面

6. Some Early Forms of Short Story • Tales • Fables • Parables

7. Tales: Features • A story, usually short, that sets forth strange and wonderful events in more or less bare summary, without detailed character-drawing • The goal is the revelation of the marvelous rather than revelation of character.

8. Fables • definition: a brief story that sets forth some pointed (辛辣，率直的) statement of truth. • Aesop (伊索): the Greek slave (6th century BCE)

9. Fables: Features • Personification 擬人化 (ex. talking animals or supernatural beings) • Brief • Characters often sketched, not greatly developed

10. Parables: • Like the fable, a parable is a brief narrative that teaches a moral, but unlike the fable, its plot is plausibly realistic and the main character are human rather than anthropomorphized (賦以人形；人格化) animals or natural forces.

11. Parables: • Difference from the fable: A fable customarily ends by explicitly stating its moral, but parables often present their morals implicitly, and their meanings can be open to several interpretations.

12. Ironic Situation • An ironic situation in a literary text ---a situation with wry contrast or incongruity ---Example: North Wind gets the opposite result as he uses a wrong strategy.

13. Terms • BCE (in place of BC): Before Common Era (BC--Before Christ) • CE (in place of AD): Common Era (AD—Anno Domini: the Year of Our Lord)

14. What Is a Short Story 1? • Brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters.

15. What Is a Short Story 2? • The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting, concise narrative, and the omission of a complex plot; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed.

16. What Is a Short Story 3? • Despite its relatively limited scope, though, a short story is often judged by its ability to provide a “complete” or satisfying treatment of its characters and subject.

17. What Is a Short Story 4? • Before the 19th century the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form. But although in this sense it may seem to be a uniquely modern genre, the fact is that short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. Throughout history humankind has enjoyed various types of brief narratives: jests, anecdotes, studied digressions, short allegorical romances, moralizing fairy tales, short myths, and abbreviated historical legends.

18. What Is a Short Story 5? • None of these constitutes a short story as the 19th and 20th centuries have defined the term, but they do make up a large part of the milieu from which the modern short story emerged.

19. Teacher’s Homepage • 中興大 學> • 學術單位> • 文學院> • 外文系> • 師資介紹> • 周淑娟> • 通識課程>

20. Thank You