AICE Lit AS Lvl: Unit 7 Vocab

Narrator

The person who tells the story - not the author.

Symbol

A physical object that represents an idea or abstract concept

Surrealism

A movement originating in the visual arts, but when applied to writing it means combining realistic details with unlikely dreamlike images

Persona

Is the “I” who speaks in a novel, short story, or poem: the writer’s own identity is hidden by the mask of the chosen narrator

Omniscient Narrator

Narrator’s viewpoint is that of the writer; knowing everybody’s thoughts and feelings and showing that they have all the information about what has happened and is going to happen.

Unreliable Narrator

One whose views can’t be fully trusted by the reader, perhaps because the narrator is too young to understand events fully, or is biased in some way, or doesn’t know everything, or is perhaps a liar or exaggerator.

Focalisation

The limited point of view of one character in the story without using the first-person narrative approach

Direct Speech

In a novel or short story told by an omniscient narrator this gives the narrator the chance to allow character some words of their own, which they will be enclosed in quotation marks

Indirect Speech

Repeats speech without quotation marks and puts control back into the hands of the omniscient narrator

Free Indirect Speech

A mixed form where it is difficult to separate the voice of the narrator from the voice of the character. Some parts will sound like indirect or reported speech, but others sound very close to the voice of the character.

Coming-of-age novel (Bildungsroman)

Has as young person as its main character. It may be in either first- or third-person form

Metafiction

Narrators comment on their own writing in a self-reflexive manner, or play games with the readers, reminding them that writing a novel is a process, and the end result is not real life.

Colonial and Post-colonial Literature

Written in English from a number of societies that were governed in the past by Britain as a colonial power. Post-colonial works explore the issues of personal and national identity and displacement.

Back Story

A set of events leading up to the main plot - background information that can be revealed during the main narrative

Stream of Consciousness

Writing that tries to express the very complicated thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind at any one time