Midterm- Fiction Terms

Question 0

shares with the novel several characteristics of fiction with some crucial differences: a smaller cast of characters often focused on the protagonist, a simpler plot, a limited depiction of setting and a more concentrated format

Answer 0

short story

Question 1

it’s plot is typically more involved and multifaceted, its description of the social milieu more complete, and its depiction of character’s motives, feeling and experiences more complex than short story form allows

Answer 1

novel

Question 2

between the novel and the short story in length and complexity

Answer 2

novella

Question 3

a novel comprised of a series of letters between characters

Answer 3

epistolary novel

Question 4

depicts a fictional world that closely resembles the events, social interactions, settings, motivations and feelings encountered in everyday life

Answer 4

realistic novel

Question 5

focuses on characters that are less 3 dimensional and more likely to be depicted as either heroic or villainous. Protagonist is often isolated from the mainstream, usually plot focuses on a quest

Answer 5

romance novel

Question 6

depicts the intellectual and emotional development of the protagonist from childhood into adulthood

Answer 6

bildungsroman

Question 7

set in a time and often a place removed from the period and location in which it is written. Typically it describes the atmosphere and more of the past setting in vivid detail and depicts the influence of those historical factors on characters and events

Answer 7

historical novel

Question 8

a work that derives its effects from eschewing such standard features of thegenre like coherent plot, established setting and sustained character development

Answer 8

antinovel

Question 9

incorporates into the narrative the process by which the author creates the work and the ways the reader responds to it

Answer 9

metafiction

Question 10

a story’s basic framework, the principles and the patterns on which it is organized

Answer 10

structure

Question 11

beginning a narration not in chronological order with the first event in the plot, but at some later point

Answer 11

in medias res

Question 12

dialogue, description, etc, that gives the audience or reader the background of the characters and the present situation and the way this information is presented

Answer 12

exposition

Question 13

a story being told in a story

Answer 13

frame story

Question 14

the dramatization of scenes set earlier in a story

Answer 14

flashback

Question 15

the amount of time that is represented as passing with in and between each episode of the story and the degree of detail used in its telling

Answer 15

pace

Question 16

a brief interruption during which the character or the narrator reflects on a minor point that seizes his attention

Answer 16

parenthetical observation

Question 17

a subsidiary story that parallels or contrasts with the main one

Answer 17

subplot

Question 18

the predominant mood or tone in all or part of a literary work

Answer 18

atmosphere

Question 19

the act of telling a story

Answer 19

narratoin

Question 20

the one who tells the story

Answer 20

narrator

Question 21

the position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator’s outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters

Answer 21

point of view

Question 22

the viewpoint of a character writing or speaking directly about themselves

Answer 22

first person

Question 23

every character is referred to by the narrator as ‘‘he’’, ‘‘she’’, ‘‘it’’, or ‘‘they’’ but never “I”, “we” or “you”. Its clear that the narrator is an unspecified entity or uninvolved person

Answer 23

third person

Question 24

has knowledge of all times, people, places and events, including all character thoughts

Answer 24

omniscient third person

Question 25

may know everything about a single character including whats in their mind but the narrator cannot describe things unknown to the focal character

Answer 25

third person limited

Question 26

an omniscient narrator who offers philosophical or moral commentary on the characters and the events he/she depicts

Answer 26

intrusive narrator

Question 27

a third person narrator whose presence is merely implied

Answer 27

objective narrator

Question 28

a technique which is used to replicate the thought processes of a character with little or no intervention by the narrator

Answer 28

stream of consciousness

Question 29

rarely used point of view identifiable by use of the pronoun ‘you’ by the narrator

Answer 29

second person

Question 30

a sudden, overwhelming insight or revelation evoked by a commonplace object or a scene in a poem or work of fiction

Answer 30

epiphany

Question 31

the main character

Answer 31

protagonist

Question 32

a character that opposes the protagonist’s goals and interests and so creates the major conflict in the work

Answer 32

antagonist

Question 33

A character who contrasts with th eprotagonist in ways that bring out certain of his or her moral, emotional, or intellectual qualities

Answer 33

foil

Question 34

the presentation of what characters in a literary work say

Answer 34

dialogue

Question 35

the quotation of a speaker in which the speaker’s exact words are repeated

Answer 35

direct discourse

Question 36

discourse consisting not of an exact quotation of a speakers words but of a version transformed from them for grammatical inclusion in a larger sentence

Answer 36

indirect discourse

Question 37

a rapid fire exchange of witty remarks in which each speaker tries to score against an oponent in a verbal fencing match

Answer 37

repartee

Question 38

a monologue delivered by a character alone on stage. He/she may address the audience as though they are confidantes or simply seem to be thinking aloud, expressing thoughts that are too private or too risky to share with other characters. Represent a break in the ongoing action and are reserved for important character’s important revelations

Answer 38

soliloquy

Question 39

a speech, usually brief that is only heard by the audience or is addressed privately to another character on stage

Answer 39

aside

Question 40

likeness to the truth (resemblance of a fictitious work to a real event even if it is a far fetched one)

Answer 40

verisimilitude

Question 42

the time/place in which the events in a work of fiction, drama or narrative poetry

Answer 42

setting

Question 43

a central idea that it conveys, either directly or implicitly

Answer 43

theme

Question 44

designates the attitude that a literary speaker expresses toward his or her subject matter and audience

Answer 44

tone

Question 45

a visual description of an object or a scene. All of the references to sensory perception that a work contains or evokes, not only in the from of the objects, actions, and scene depicted in literal descriptions, but also in allusions and in the vehicles of metaphors an similes.

Answer 45

imagery

Question 46

a visual description of an object or a scene. All of the references to sensory perception that a work contains or evokes, not only in the from of the objects, actions, and scene depicted in literal descriptions, but also in allusions and in the vehicles of metaphors an similes.

Answer 46

imagery

Question 47

an object, action or even that represents something, or creates a range of associations, beyond itself

Answer 47

symbolism