List of English Terms:

Abjection

That which is expelled to maintain a sense of identity or purity, yet continues to haunt the subject by threatening to blur boundaries.

Aesthetic

Refers to the principles or philosophy of beauty and artistic taste; in literary studies, it concerns how a work’s form, style, and sensory qualities produce meaning or pleasure.

Aesthetic of irresolution

A mode or style that resists closure or clear resolution, leaving conflicts, meanings, or endings open-ended.

Affect

Concerns emotional experience or response.

Affective criticism

Studies how texts evoke, shape, or manipulate readers’ emotions rather than focusing solely on form or ideology.

Affordances

The potential uses, interpretations, or effects that a form, medium, or genre allows.

Alienation

A feeling of estrangement or disconnection; often describes characters’ separation from society or themselves.

Allegory

A narrative in which characters, events, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral concepts.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely positioned words.

Allusion

An indirect or passing reference to another text, event, or cultural element.

Alterity

A philosophical or literary term meaning 'otherness'; denotes difference or recognition of something as distinct from the self.

Ambiguity

A quality of language or structure that allows multiple interpretations.

Anachronism

An element placed outside its proper historical time; can be accidental or used for irony.

Analogy

A comparison highlighting similarity between two different things.

Anonymity

The state of being unnamed or unidentified.

Antagonist

The character or force opposing the protagonist.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman entities.

Antithesis

A rhetorical or structural contrast of ideas in parallel form.

Atmosphere

The mood or emotional tone pervading a literary work.

Aurality

The quality of sound or hearing in literature.

Bildungsroman

A 'coming-of-age' novel tracing a protagonist’s psychological and moral development.

Breton lai

A short narrative poem of medieval French origin, often involving romance, adventure, and supernatural elements.

Canon

The body of works considered most important, influential, or exemplary within a culture or tradition.

Chekhov’s gun

A dramatic principle that every element introduced must serve a purpose.

Classic story structure

The traditional narrative arc involving exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Climax

The moment of greatest tension, conflict, or emotional intensity in a narrative.

Comedy

A literary form emphasizing human folly, reconciliation, or renewal.

Conflict

The central struggle between opposing forces.

Connotation

The emotional or associative meaning attached to a word.

Contrast

A rhetorical or structural device highlighting differences between characters or ideas.

Convention

An established technique, style, or thematic pattern recognized within a genre.

Courtly love

A medieval European literary concept idealizing noble, often unattainable love.

Crime fiction

A genre centered on crime, investigation, and justice.

Crisis

A moment of high tension or decision within the plot.

Dark comedy

A form of humor that treats serious subjects with irony or absurdity.

Defamiliarization

Presenting familiar things in unfamiliar ways to make readers perceive them anew.

Deixis

Words that depend on context for meaning.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word.

Dénouement

The final part of a narrative where conflicts are resolved.

Deus ex machina

A sudden intervention that resolves a plot’s conflict.

Dialogue

The spoken exchanges between characters.

Dialogic / Monologic

Dialogic texts contain multiple voices; monologic ones express a single voice.

Didactic

Intended to instruct or convey a moral message.

Discovery

A narrative moment of revelation or recognition.

Elegy

A poem expressing mourning or reflection on loss.

Emotive language

Language designed to evoke emotion.

Empathy

The identification with another’s feelings or situation.

Emplotment

The process of shaping events into a coherent plot structure.

Enargeia

A quality of vivid, sensory description that makes a scene present to the reader.

Endings

The closure or final state of a narrative.

Epistolary fiction

A narrative composed of letters or diary entries.

Exemplum

A brief moral tale used in didactic literature.

Exposition

The introductory section of a narrative establishing context.

Fable

A short moral tale, often featuring speaking animals.

Fabliau

Brief, comic verse tales from medieval France.

Falling action

The part of the plot following the climax.

Feminist criticism

A critical approach examining how literature represents gender and women’s experience.

Fiction

Narrative writing originating from imagination.

Figurative language

Language that creates comparisons or imagery.

First-person narration

A storytelling mode in which the narrator speaks as 'I'.

Flashback

A narrative technique that interrupts chronological sequence to depict earlier events.

Flat and round characters

Flat characters are simple; round characters are complex and developed.

Focalization

The perspective through which a narrative is presented.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues about future events in a story.

Fourth wall

The imaginary barrier between a narrative’s world and its audience.

Frame narrative

A story within a story providing context for other tales.

Free indirect style

A narrative technique blending third-person narration with character’s inner thoughts.

Freytag’s pyramid

A model dividing a narrative into exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement.

Genre

A category of literary work characterized by shared conventions.

Ghost story

A tale involving supernatural apparitions.

Gothic fiction

A genre blending horror, romance, and the supernatural.

Heteronormativity

The assumption that heterosexuality is the default identity.

Historical present

The use of present tense to describe past events.

Horizon of expectations

A reader’s cultural framework that shapes interpretation.

Horror / Terror

Terror evokes fear through anticipation; horror arises from shock.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Ideology

A system of ideas and beliefs shaping perception and power.

Imagery

Descriptive language appealing to the senses.

Implied reader

A hypothetical reader created by the text.

Indirection

A strategy of suggesting meaning indirectly rather than stating it explicitly.

Inciting incident

The event that sets the main plot in motion.

In medias res

A technique beginning in the middle of things.

Inscribed reader

The audience explicitly represented within a text.

Interior monologue

A literary mode presenting a character’s inner thoughts directly.

Interpellation

The process by which ideology shapes individuals as subjects.

Intertextuality

The shaping of a text’s meaning through references to other texts.

Intrusive narrator

A narrator who interrupts the story to address the reader or offer commentary.

Irony / Dramatic irony

A contrast between appearance and reality; dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more than the characters.

Journey

A narrative motif involving movement through space representing growth.

Legend

A traditional story explaining cultural values or heroic deeds.

Litotes

A figure of speech using deliberate understatement.

Magical realism

A literary mode blending realism with fantastical elements.

Manuscript

A handwritten version of a literary work.

Marginality

The condition of being positioned outside dominant cultural systems.

Marxist criticism

An approach interpreting literature through class struggle and material conditions.

Metafiction

Fiction that draws attention to its own status as a narrative.

Metamorphosis

A transformation in form, character, or identity.

Metaphor

A figure of speech asserting an implicit comparison.

Motif

A recurring element contributing to the narrative’s larger meanings.

Myth

A traditional narrative explaining origins or cultural practices.