Fiction Basics Flashcards
A term used by Aristotle in the Poetics to describe the moment of tragic recognition in which the protagonist realizes some important fact or insight, especially a truth about himself, human nature, or his situation
Anagnorisis
An emotional discharge that brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension and anxiety
Catharsis
The moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis reaches it’s point of greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved
Climax
The opposition between two characters, two large groups of people, or between the protagonist and a larger problem such as forces of nature, ideas, public mores; may also be internal
Conflict
Involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know
Dramatic irony
The portion of a story that introduces background information such as setting, characters, events that occurred before the main plot, etc
Exposition
All of the action in a play that follows the turning point; leads to the resolution or conclusion of the story
Falling action
A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events
Flashback
Suggesting, hinting, indicating, or showing what will occur later in a narrative; provides hints about what will happen next
Foreshadowing
A diagram of dramatic structure that show the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution in a story
Freytag’s pyramid
Saying one thing and meaning another–includes verbal, dramatic, and situational
Irony
The sudden reversal of fortune on a story, play, or any narrative in which there is an observable change in direction
Peripetia
The structure and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction
Plot
The outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath that usually occurs near the final stages of the plot
Resolution
An increase in tension or uncertainty developing out of the conflict the protagonist faces
Rising action
The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs
Setting
Accidental events occur that seem oddly appropriate, such as the poetic justice of a pickpocket getting his pocket picked
Situational irony
Framework of a work of literature; the organization or overall design of a work
Structure
elements that are separate from the structure of the poem, and they are significantly of interest in a technical sense, but they cannot be captured in a paraphrase or summary
Texture
A central idea or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work
Theme
When everything comes together in a story
Unity of action
A speaker makes a statement in which it’s actual meaning differs sharply from the meaning that the words ostensibly express; sarcasm
Verbal irony
The sense that hat one reads is “real” or at least realistic and believable
Verisimilitude
