Literary Worlds Flashcards
Literary
- Fictional characters and events
- Focused on plot development
- Aesthetically arranged
Worlds
- Totality
- Space, time and place
- Constructed physical or metaphorical setting
- Has its own plausible rules
Private/individual worlds
- Identity
- Morality
- Attitudes
- Values
- Motives
- Beliefs
- Shapes individual thoughts and actions
Public/collective worlds
- Societal values and expectations
- Culture
- Power structures
- Centralised norms and worldviews
- Shapes collective thoughts and actions
Imaginary worlds
- Genre
- Setting
- Form
- Plot
- Characterisation
Relationship between public and private worlds
- Intertwined
- Individual is shaped and impacted by the collective
- Collective is made up of individuals
Authorial intent of creating literary worlds
- Escape to a new world
- Profound expression of meaning and experiences
- Communication of concepts
- Explore human values, morals and ethics
- Cathartic and personal focus
Social impact of literary worlds
- Address social taboos
- Paves way for change
- Platform for various identities
- Critique of society and culture
- Mimetic of society and culture
- Transcends time and place to convey universal values
Audience reception and outlook of literary worlds
- Encourages mainstream discourse to confront morals and values
- Process own identity and place in the world
- Broadens experiences and knowledge
- Explore human values, morals and ethics
- Become exposed to ideas, perspectives and experiences of others
- Widen and challenge perspectives
- Connect people across time and place
- Engage with new worlds
- Reflect on society and culture
‘Reality Effects’
- Roland Barthes
- Small details of characters, setting and actions to give atmosphere and realism
- Does not add to plot
- Adds to audience connection and understanding
‘Defamiliarisation’
- Viktor Shklovsky
- Disrupts reader’s perception of literary world
- Familiar element seems new
- New perspectives and insights
‘Narrative Durations’
- Gerard Genette
- Scene: real-time
- Synopsis: speed up
- Dilation: slow down
- Ellipsis: flash-forward
- Pause: complete stop
Teleological
Particular purpose
Diegesis
Narrative plot, setting and world
Temporal
Time and its manipulation
Metadiegetic structure
Story within a story
Metafiction
Emphasises own construction
Affective
Rousing emotions
Polysemic
Open-ended and ambiguous
Amplitude
Relationship and contrast between what is emphasised and what is not
Mimetic
Reflective of reality
Anti-mimetic
Distorting actuality
Iterative
Grounded in repetition
Transgressive
Challenging social confines