ENG1300 Chapter 6/7/8

Question 1

Theme

Answer 1

The main idea or larger meaning of a literary work. May be a message or a moral, but is more likely to be a central, unifying insight or viewpoint.

Question 2

Romance

Answer 2

A narrative mode that employs exotic adventure and idealized emotion rather than realistic depiction of character and action. People, actions, events depicted more as we wish them to be, rather than they would be in real existence.

Question 3

Novel

Answer 3

An extended work of fictional prose narrative. Usually implies a book-length narrative.

Question 4

Conventional Symbol

Answer 4

A literary symbol that has a customary meaning for most readers - such as a black cat crossing your path, or a young bride in a white dress.

Question 5

Nonfiction Novel

Answer 5

Genre in which actual events and real people are presented as novel-length story, but uses techniques of fiction.

Question 6

Allegory

Answer 6

Literal events (person/place/things) consistently point to a parallel sequence of symbolic equivalents. Has two levels of meaning: a literal level that tells surface story, and a symbolic level in which the abstract ideas unfold.

Question 7

Epistolary Novel

Answer 7

Narrative is told by way of letters written by one or more of the characters.

Question 8

Novella

Answer 8

a prose narrative that is longer than a short story, but shorter than a book-length work. A brief book.

Question 9

Fiction

Answer 9

Stories that are not entirely factual, but in part, made up or imagined. From Latin for “a shaping, a counterfeiting”

Question 10

Suspense

Answer 10

The pleasurable anxiety we feel that heightens our attention to the story, resides in wondering how it’ll all turn out.

Question 11

Picaresque

Answer 11

Narrative that presents the life of a likable scoundrel at odds with society. Comes from Spanish for ‘rascal’ or ‘rouge’.

Question 12

Epic or Heroic Poem

Answer 12

Classic works that come alive when actors perform it, or when it is sung or chanted. Example: Beowulf.

Question 13

Symbolic Act

Answer 13

An action whose significance goes well beyond its literal meaning, often involves ritual elements such as rebirth, purification, forgiveness, vengeance, or initiation.

Question 14

Memoir or Autobiography

Answer 14

Narrative that tells the personal story of an individual.

Question 15

Symbol

Answer 15

A person, place, or thing in a narrative that suggests meaning far beyond its literal sense, related to allegory, but more complex. Contains multiple meanings as associations.

Question 16

Bildungsroman

Answer 16

Sometimes called “apprenticeship novel”. German for “novel of growth and development”. Youth struggling towards maturity.

Question 17

Historical Fiction

Answer 17

Narrative set in another time or place. May include real people/events, or use fictional characters in the setting.

Question 18

Symbolic Characters

Answer 18

Characters that typically make brief, cameo appearances, not well-rounded, remain mysterious=portrait-like. Sometimes just part of the body may convey a symbolic meaning - such as the baleful eye in “the Tall-Tale Heart”.

Question 19

Normans Mailer’s “The Executioner’s Song”

Answer 19

Example of a nonfiction novel - based on the real life and death of Gary Gilmore, a Utah murderer who demands his own execution.

Question 20

Summary

Answer 20

A brief, condensation of the main idea or plot of a literary work, similar to a paraphrase but less detailed.