UNSEEN PROSE Flashcards
What is First and third person?
First- the narrator is participating role, even if they do not feature in the main plot. More obvious to the reader we are being given a specific characters interpretation of events, ‘I’
Third-he/she, external to the world of the story, can still have personality, been processed before reaches reader
What is the effect of first and third person?
Helps us assess the validity of what they are saying/ if we can trust it
What is an omniscient narrative style?
All seeing/all knowing
Information about a range of characters/ situations, understand from multiple perspectives
Common in 18/19th novels
Can be anyone, modernist tries to break from this for more realistic perception
What is alternating narrative perspectives?
3rd person may become 1st person
Different perspectives of different characters
What is free indirect discourse?
About speech/thoughts
Direct discourse- reporting what someone has said - direct quote
Indirect- wording different, not direct quote, may be interpretation of what said
What is intrusive narrative voice?
Authorial voice which ‘intrudes’ in the events of the narrative, breaking the frame and dispelling the illusion that what we are reading is real
Common in 20tg century and post modern
Relationship (1 to 1) between the reader and writer, reader becomes authors attention
Can express own ideas, evaluate action/ view of world in general
What is stream of consciousness?
20th century
Growing interest in psychology
Less punctual, grammatical structure
Images, ideas flow, uninterrupted
Inside mind of voice/character, reading what they think
What is focalisation?
From whose perspective?
Narration takes on perpective or point of view of a character in novel
Not related to stated speech or thoughts
(Different to free indirect discourse )
What are the key literary trends of feminism?
after WW2 it was assumed that women would resume their role in the home
more job opportunities and the development of
labour-saving devices, there was a massive expansion of women in the workforce.
literary canon had historically marginalised
female writers and female experiences
writers representing
sexuality more explicitly in their writing
Traditional double standards with regards to gender roles were still in evidence.
female writers examined the contradiction between increased personal/professional
opportunities for women and conventional expectations about their maternal and familial
responsibilities
represent female emotions and the female body, challenging conventional forms of
expression which have a male bias.
used fantasy or Gothic techniques to create imaginative worlds
which transcend the patriarchal order
What are the key literary trends of post-colonial writing?
establishing
their own national and cultural identities.
challenge the
dominance of Western cultural authority
critical of the imperialist values and the oppression of native peoples
Alienation and displacement were key themes of early postcolonial texts
They often draw on indigenous speech patterns and rhythms and imagery related to their own surroundings.
Exploration of racial tension
It often reflects a sense of duality – feeling torn between their homeland and the site of their displacement.
British society often described in a cold way in comparison to warm, affectionate portrayals of the homeland
What are the key literary trends of working class writing?
Complex fully-rounded working class characters
Characters who rage against social hierarchies
Use of colloquial, idiomatic language to represent voice of working class characters and challenge traditional literary expression
Feelings of disappointment and disillusionment
In the 1950s, the term ‘angry young men’ was coined
decline in the post-war optimism about the possibilities for radical social change. Novels of this type are characterised by naturalistic language and realist narrative techniques, resisting modernist techniques.Typical themes are resisting authority, class anger, criticism of the contemporary social world, but lacking a coherent sense of how genuine social change might come about.
What are the key literary trends of existentialism?
emphasizes
individual existence, freedom and choice.
humans define their own meaning in life, and try to
make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe
question of human existence, and the feeling that there is no purpose or
explanation at the core of existence.
there is no God or any other
transcendent force, the only way to counter this nothingness (and hence to find
meaning in life) is by embracing existence
individuals are entirely free and must take
personal responsibility for themselves
What are the key literary trends of magic realism?
reshaping and manipulation of conventional
literary realism to accommodate fantasy, myth, fairy-tale and other
non-canonical generic forms.
comment critically on social and political issues.
transcend the constraints of a traditional narrative
strategies as part of a challenge to the established literary canon
Gothic and fairytale elements to portray the struggle to transcend
social worlds dominated by patriarchal values
What are the key literary trends of post-modernism writing?
questioning of established
approaches to understanding human experience
breakaway from traditional forms of writing
Experimentation with narrative strategy
‘self-reflexive’-Deliberately drawing attention to the fictional status of the text
fragmentation and discontinuity of modern life
Revisiting events from history and challenging/questioning our perspective on
them
temporal order within a narrative e.g. switching
backwards and forwards between past and present
use of pastiche – mixing genres together, often combining high and popular
culture e.g. use of detective novel conventions in a work of literary fiction
