lit terms: narrative mode Flashcards
First person point of view
The story is told by one of its characters, using the first person
Flashback
A literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative
Flash forward
A literary device in which a later event is inserted into a narrative
In media res
(In the middle of things) Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning, establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations
Limited omniscient view
The author tells the story using third person but is limited to the complete knowledge of one character
Linear structure
A plot that follows a straight moving, cause and effect, chronological order
Objective point of view
The author tells the story, using the third person, but is limited to reporting what the character say and do; the author does not interpret their behavior or tells us private thoughts or feelings
Omniscient point of view
The author tells the story using the third person and knows everything
Narrator
The speaker or the “voice” of an oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is not usually the same person as the author
Nonlinear structure
When the plot is presented in a non causal order, with events presented in a random series jumping to and from the main plot with flashbacks or flash forwards; or in any manner that is either not chronological or not cause and effect
Point of view
The angle of vision through which the story is told
Stream of consciousness
Narrative which presents the private thoughts of a character without commentary or interpretation by the author
Unreliable narrator
A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised (usually first person narrators)
Epistolary novel
A novel written as a series of documents
