Intro to fiction exam 2

discourse level

The set of narrative strategies by which a story achieves its effect on a
reader; the authorial choices (in language, structure, content, etc.) that
communicate the imagined events of a story to the reader.

story level

The perceived content or events of story, considered as though they were
"really" happening-- for example, Darth Vader was Luke's father.

Close reading/close textual observation

Interpreting a text by noticing how subtle details of the author's language
choices contribute to the reader's overall impression

Cognitive/ neurochemical basis of narrative arc

neurotransmitters are released in a neurochemical cascade during a compelling narrative; cortisol is released initially to focus attention, followed by dopamine as the story unfolds and anticipation builds, and oxytocin in response to empatheic moments that foster connection

evolutionary purposes of storytelling

to enable survival by transmitting vital information, fostering social cooperation, and improving cognitive skills through practice

Proairetic tension

suspense over future action, drive to see what happens next; “this is worrying, what will happen?”

hermeneutic tension

unanswered questions, drive to understand this world; “this is puzzling, what’s the explanation?”

tension

A reader's sense of anxious interest in the ongoing events of a story,
produced by a feeling of something amiss that needs to be resolved or some
gap that must be filled.
Tension is always generated by conflict or question of some sort, often but
by no means always the central conflict of the story

In medias res

A Latin phrase meaning "in the midst of things"; refers to a narrative device
of omitting the traditional slow exposition and beginning a story right in the
middle of the main action already in progress

exposition

The opening portion of a narrative, where the scene is set, the protagonist and conflict are introduced, and the author sets our any other background information necessary to allow the reader to understand and relate to the events to follow

Donnée

The "givens," premises, stated or implied "ground rules" for a work; Henry
James's term for indicating that the reader must grant the writer a free
choice of subject and treatment: "We must grant the writer his donnee."

rising action

The part of the play or narrative, including the exposition, in which events
start moving toward a climax. Rising action is generally accompanied by a
ramping-up of the reader's sense of narrative tension.

falling action

The part of a narrative that follow the climax and bring the story to its
denouement

climax

The moment of greatest tension in a story; the point just before the central
conflict is decided, one way or another

epiphany

Literally, a “manifestation”; a sudden moment of critical revelation (or, for
Christian thinkers, a particular manifestation of God’s presence in the
created world).

crisis

A moment where a critical decision must be made by a main character. In
introspective stories, this often serves as the climax of the story; but not all
climaxes will involve a crisis.

Denouement

The resolution of a literary work as plot complications are unraveled after
the climax. In French, Denouement means "untying"; aka resolution

nonlinear narrative

A narrative whose telling jumps backward and forward in time, producing a
discourse-level sequence of episodes that is different from the order in which
events occurred in the story level

Freytag’s pyramid/dramatic arc

outlines the plot of the story; includes exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/denouement 

anti-hero

a central character who lacks traditional heroic qualities, but often has a heroic role even though they may be cynical, a bit villainous, or morally ambiguous 

first person

A point of view where a narrator is telling a story about themselves
(often using pronouns "I" or "we").

second person

A point of view where a narrator is telling a story about the implied
listener or reader, often using “you”

third person

A point of view where a narrator is telling a story where they
themselves are not present in the action (generally using the third-
person pronouns he/she/it/they throughout). Narrators
may still possess a personality and opinions; where they insert these
directly

limited pov

Describes a narrative point of view where the narrator has only partial
access to information about events and characters' consciousnesses:
for example, the narrator may see only through the eyes of one major
or minor character.

omniscient pov

Describes a narrative point of view where the narrator has the ability
to move freely through the consciousness of any character. The
omniscient narrator also has complete knowledge of all the external
events in a story.

stream of consciousness

An extended direct presentation of a character's thoughts, like
interior monologue, but with special effort to authentically capture
the unstructured, associative and "streamlike" feel of real thoughts.
Stream-of-consciousness writing often deliberately departs from
conventional rules of grammar or logic

interior monologue

An extended direct presentation of a character's thoughts in a
narrative, as though the character were speaking aloud to himself or
herself

third person editorial

A POV in which the narrator directly comments on the events taking
place; told by a specific person, has opinions and a personality

third person objective

A POV in which the narrator describes the events taking place, but
does not comment, evaluate or express an opinion on what's
happening; usually used in folktales 

direct speech/direct discourse

Speech or thought in a text that is grammatically presented as though
the reader were hearing the utterance itself, rather than being
reported/ reframed secondhand. Within the text, direct speech is
generally set off using quotation marks or italics, e.g. Jane yelled,
"Dan is a filthy creep!"; I need to get out of here right away, thought
Mark.

indirect speech/indirect discourse

Speech or thought in a text that is grammatically presented via the
indirect report of a third party, usually by adding a dependent clause
with an explicit or implicit "that"-- for example, "Jane said that he was
a filthy creep"

free indirect discourse (untagged indirect)

A technique for subtly "dipiping into" characters’ interior perspective
while maintaining an apparent exterior third-person point of view.
Couched as a report given by a narrator, FID also contains
expressivity markers (for example, dialect representations) that
clearly point to the speech patterns of a particular character

implied author

The role or persona of the narrator, assumed by the author (may or
may not be the same as the actual author).

focalization

The mode of perspective-taking in a work of fiction, equivalent to the
placement of the "eye" of a camera in film. In internal focalization,
the narrative "eye" is anchored to a particular character, or drifts back
and forth between characters. In zero focalization, the viewpoint is
not anchored in a localized position

mood

The emotional aura permeating a fictional scene, usually established
by a combination of setting, imagery and verbal style (not necessarily
the events of the plot!); the emotional atmosphere or feelings the reader experiences from the story

tone

The implied attitude of the SPEAKER OR NARRATOR toward the events
being narrated

interiority

The representation of a character's interior experience or "headspace"

psychonarration

Representing a character's consciousness by directly telling the reader
about their feelings and attitudes ("Sam felt terrible about what he'd
just done")

diction

Word choice or vocabulary; especially, the class or type of words that an
author has decided (usually, for good reason) to use in a work of fiction, to
convey a particular impression to the reader.

style

The sum total of discourse-level effects of the author's structural language
choices, including diction (word choice), syntax, use of dialect, register, etc.

verisimilitude

Discourse-level choices to make a narrative appear "factual" or similar to
everyday life;

allegory

material settings (hidden spaces) and objects have psychic meaning - the uncanny, the supernatural; a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one

The Monster Is You

Personal crisis

The Monster Is Us

Social Crisis 

simile

A rhetorical figure that describes something by means of a direct comparison
using "like" or "as" ("Her collarbone was like a piece of dented metal...")

metaphor

A rhetorical figure that describes something by means of a direct comparison
without "like" or "as" ("My mind was a whirlpool, a tempest")

gothic genre

genre of horror, suspense, and spooky stories

when did the gothic originate

1760s

what was the gothic a reaction of

the Enlightenment, AKA “the Age of Reason”

examples of the uncanny

gothic doubles; altered mental states

ambiguous cameras 

used to create a sense of mystery, tension; blurring the frame, using shallow depth, zooming out

She said that she was tired.

indirect tagged

Maria asked, “Are you coming with us?”

direct tagged

Everyone knew that she was lying.

indirect untagged

“It’s raining again".”

direct untagged