1、英美文学部分主讲单位: 北京外国语大学英语学院,自考英语专业论文写作辅导,考试目的与要求,一、目的 1、考察学生的文学基本原理及英美文学背景知识； 2、考察学生对英美文学作品的理解和欣赏能力； 3、考察学生的思辫能力与分析性写作能力。 二、要求 1、根据所给文学作品，结合自己掌握的文学背景知识与文学基本原理，写一篇600词左右的文学分析； 2、要求文章观点明晰、结构合理、条理清楚、语言规范。,参考书目,1、张伯香主编：英美文学选读，外语教学与研究出版社。2、金莉、张剑编著：文学原理教程，外语教学与研究出版社，2004年版。3、吴冰主编：英语写作手册，外语教学与研究出版社。,文学基本原理串讲 小
2、说的要素,ELEMENTS OF FICTION,Authors Purpose,An authors reason for creating a particular work is called the authors purpose. Sometimes the author will state his or her purpose up front. Other times youll need to make inferences (reasonable guesses) about the authors purpose. There are four basic reasons
3、 an author might choose to write: to explain or inform to entertain to persuade to enlighten or reveal an important truth,Setting,If you could talk about the where and when of a story, what youre really talking about is the storys setting. Understanding a storys setting can give you a context for th
4、e events of the plot. It can also give you clues about the mood, or atmosphere, of a story.,PLOT,What characters do or is done to them. The sequence of actions that gives a story its basic structure.,Plot: Conflict,Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. Without conflict, th
5、ere is no plot.,Plot: Types of Conflict,Character vs Nature,Character vs Society,PLOT (cont.),Conflict should lead to a climax, a moment of crisis in which some choice must be made, action taken, or insight achieved that will resolve the conflict.,FIVE ELEMENTS OF PLOT,Exposition the beginning of th
6、e story, which explains the characters and the situation Rising action complications that cause building tension Climax the peak or turning point Falling action explanations that lead into the resolution Resolution Closed ending - story is completed Open ending - readers draw their own conclusion,Pl
7、ot,Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story. It shows arrangement of events and actions within a story.,Exposition: the start of the story, the situation before the action starts,Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax,Climax
8、: the turning point, the most intense momenteither mentally or in action,Falling Action: all of the action which follows the climax,Resolution: the conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads,Plot Components,PLOT (cont.),Conflict should lead to a climax, a moment of crisis in which some cho
9、ice must be made, action taken, or insight achieved that will resolve the conflict.,PLOT (cont.),Climax may be followed by the denouement (french for the untangling of a knot), where readers are presented w/ the consequences of the climax (though sometimes a surprise plot twist occurs).,MISC. PLOT T
10、ECHNIQUES,Foreshadowingwhen writer gives clues early in the story to later events.,PLOT TECHNIQUES (cont.),Flashbackinterrupting chronological sequence of narrative to present a scene from the past.,PLOT (cont.),Primary purpose of plot:Revelation of character,CHARACTER:A character is a person, an an
11、imal, or an imaginary creature that takes part in the action of a story. Sometimes the author will directly describe a characters appearance, personality, or feelings. Other times the author will leave clues and expect you to draw conclusions about what the person or animal is like.,CHARACTER TYPES:
12、Most stories have both main and minor characters. The main character, or protagonist, is the most important character. The action of the plot revolves around him or her. Often the antagonist, the person or thing working against the protagonist, is also a main character.,TYPES OF CHARACTERS,Character
13、s can be static (i.e., They dont change) or dynamic (they change).,REVELATION OF CHARACTER,Dramatic methodby what characters say or do, or what other characters say about them. Expositionthrough narrators comments.,FLAT CHARACTERS vs. ROUND CHARACTERS,In his book Aspects of the novel, E. M. Forster
14、defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: flat characters and round charactersFlat characters are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. By contrast, round
15、characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.,CHARACTERIZATION,An author can give information about a character by describing several aspects of the character:Physical appearance and personality Speech, behavior, and actions Thoughts and feelings Inte
16、ractions with other characters,POINT OF VIEW,Perspective from which the author tells the story (often the most important decision a writer makes).,COMMON POINTS OF VIEW,Omniscient (all-seeing, all-knowing) Limited omniscient (the external experiences & internal thoughts of one character),POINTS OF V
17、IEW (cont.),First person (“I”) Third person,Point of View,First-person Point of View: in the first-person point of view, the story is told by one of the characters. The character uses pronouns such as I or we and usually participates in much of the action. Third-person Point of View: in the third-pe
18、rson point of view, the story is told by a narrator who is not a character in the story. (Pronouns such as she, he, and they are used when writing in third-person point of view),THEME,Central idea about human experience expressed (either explicitly or implicitly) by the story.,Theme,Looking for a th
19、eme helps you look more deeply into the literature and makes for more enjoyable reading. You will need to infer what the theme is from the works title, key scenes, characters, symbols, and plot events.,THEME (cont.),What have the characters or we as readers learned? What do the symbols or allusions
20、suggest about the meaning of the story?,Style,Style is the way writers express their ideas. Its how they say something, not what they say. Style involves these three elements:Word choice Sentence structure and length Literary devices, such as figurative language, symbols, dialogue, and imagery,SYMBO
21、LISM,A symbol is a thing, person, place, or action that evokes a concrete reality but that suggests another level of meaning.,Symbol,A symbol is something concretesuch as a person, place, or objectthat signifies something more than just itself, something abstract, such as a concept or an idea. Some
22、symbols you will probably be familiar with already. E.g. A heart symbolizes _,TYPES OF IRONY,Verbal irony Dramatic irony Situational irony,VERBAL IRONY,Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal meaning is contrary to i
23、ts intended effect. An acute example of this would be sarcasm.,DRAMATIC IRONY,Dramatic irony is a disparity of expression and awareness: when words and actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or character does not.,SITUATIONAL IRONY,Situational irony
24、 is the disparity of intention and result: when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect.,FINAL THOUGHT,Though useful when analyzing a story to consider the above elements separately, its important to keep in mind that these elements work together in rich & complex ways to form a whole that is greater than the sum of the individual parts.,THANK YOU!,GOOD LUCK,
