Nineteenth Centur Anglo American Fiction

Question 1

Name two key aspects of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Answer 1

1. Formal, structural, narrative complexity: Epistolary narrative form and frame narratives, i.e., stories within stories
2. Diverse narrative perspectives: Multivocal and ambivalent narration

Question 2

What were the major characteristics of slave narratives?

Answer 2

1. autobiographical accounts

2. slave narratives depict the slaves live in a true manner and often ends up in freedom

Question 3

Why did Nathaniel Hawthorne consciously craft his novels as “romances”? Give reasons.

Answer 3

• distinguish from the realistic presentation of ordinary live
• ## to reach more people

Question 4

Name two aspects of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

Answer 4

1. Considered a prominent instance of anthropomorphism, ascribing intentions to animals, to nature, and therefore, to fate
2. Complex treatment of diverse themes, viz. eternal conflict of good and evil, personal morality vs. divine retribution

Question 5

Which historical period is indicated by the term Victorian era? Why has it been described as the age of contradictions?

Answer 5

• Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901: Period of peace and rapid economic development, Britain’s economic resurgence and Imperial supremacy
  age of contradictions:
• the age of moral preoccupation, scientific progress, and retreat of religion from public life
• on the other side Strict, repressive codes of social and moral behavior