1、英語短篇小說教程Short Stories in English: A Reading Course英語短篇小說教程Short Stories in EngUnit OneIntroduction: The Short StoryReading: “Early Autumn” by Langston Hughes Unit OneComment on the following statement: Do you agree to this opinion? “Autobiography is fiction, for in the process of writing the author

2、will have inevitably created a fictitious character.” Comment on the following stateComment on the following statement: Israel Zangwill, an English writer, says something about the “truth” of fiction. Do you agree to this opinion? “In Literature, everything is true except names and places; in histor

3、y nothing is true except names and places. ” Comment on the following state The Random House Dictionary definition of the word “fiction”: The class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form. The Random House DictionarThe four main categories of literature:fiction: n

4、ovel, novella, short stories, myth, legend folktalepoetry: ballad, epic, free verse, psalm, sonnet drama: play, opera, radio/TV/film scriptsprose: essay, criticism, literary theory, (auto)biographyThe four main categories of liSylvan Barnet: A Short Guide to Writing about Literature Perhaps the firs

5、t thing to say is that it is impossible to define literature in a way that will satisfy everyone. And perhaps the second thing to say is that in the last 20 years or so, some serious thinkers have argued that it is impossible to set off certain verbal works from all others, and on some basis or othe

6、r to designate them as literature. It is an honorific word, or a body of work embodying eternal truth and eternal beauty. Sylvan Barnet: A Short Guide tJohn M. Ellis: The Theory of Literary Criticism The word literature is something like the word weed. A weed is just a plant that gardeners for one r

7、eason or another dont want in the garden, but no plant has characteristics that clearly make it weed and not merely a plant. John M. Ellis: The Theory of LRobert Frost and Ezra Pound: Robert Frost: Literature is “a performance of words.”Ezra Pound: Literature is “news that stays news.”Robert Frost a

8、nd Ezra Pound: Essential differences between fiction and non-fictional writings: The former has two levels of understanding, the narrative level and the authorial level, or the surface level and the deep level of understanding; The former allows different interpretations; The former requires imagina

9、tive participation on the part of the reader;In the former, the authors voice is generally disguised, speaking through a persona.Essential differences between Discussion: Is it literature?The old dog barks backward without getting up.I can still remember when he was a pup. Robert Frost: “The Span of

10、 Life”Discussion: Is it literature?Discussion: Is it literature? 墳是白饅頭， 井像黑窟窿， 黃狗身上白， 白狗身上腫。 Discussion: Is it literature? Discussion: Is it literature? Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone Which has twenty-eight in fine, Till l

11、eap year gives it twenty-nine. Discussion: Is it literature?Reading and Textual Analysis Langston Hughes: “Early Autumn”Reading and Textual Analysis Questions 1. Even though we call it a “short story,” is there much “story” in the usual sense of the word? Is “story” an inevitable part?3. Is there a

12、clear message? What is Marys problem?4. How does the story touch the reader if it is a touching one?5. What part does the setting play in the story?Questions Henry James:The best fiction would not rely primarily upon plot, instead, would derive its impact from truth of detail.Henry James:Jack London

13、:(Good literature) transcends the limits of particularity to reach universality.Jack London:Isarael Zangwill:Art deals with essences, not with accidents.Isarael Zangwill:Chekhov: It is not the business of a writer to answer the great questions but to state the questions correctly.Chekhov:英語短篇小說教程Sho

14、rt Stories in English: A Reading Course英語短篇小說教程Short Stories in EngUnit TwoThe Author, the Narrator and the ReaderReading: (1): “The Washwoman” by I.B. Singer (2): “A Piece of Yellow Soap” by Frank Sargeson Unit TwoThe Author The author is not the same as the narrator even when an author uses the fi

15、rst-person “I”. The author creates and chooses a narrator to tell a story and he might as well choose a totally different narrator to make a different story. A highly sophisticated author can choose a nave person, a child for example, to tell a story. The Author The author isThe Narrator Who is tell

16、ing the story determines the storys point of view the vantage point from which events are presented. The implications of this choice are far-reaching. The perspective from which a story is told determines what details are to be included in the story and how they are to be arranged and presented. The

17、 Narrator The narrator of a story may be: reliable or unreliable, objective or subjective, fair or partial, sympathetic or detached, simple-minded or sophisticated, ignorant or insightful. In other words, he may or may not present an accurate picture of events. The narrator of a story may beThe Read

18、er:Since the narrator does not always represent the author, the reader can not take the narrators words for granted, but needs to weigh and decide how much he can trust the narrators story. The reading process is interactive, with the reader playing the role of both a receiver and a contributor, as

19、meaning can only be discovered and constructed by the reader. It is a mistake to think that, for each story, there is one “correct” interpretation for all readers. The Reader:The first-person narration: The first-person narration is provided by a narrator inside the story as the main character, or a

20、 participant, or an observer. This way of narration can present incidents more convincingly as the story is told by “I” personally. But the first-person narrator is, by definition, limited because he presents a situation as only one person sees it. The first-person narration: The third-person narrat

21、ion: The third-person narration is provided by a narrator outside the story. The narrator may know everything, or may have a limited vision about the story. The third-person narration: The third-person narration :The omniscient narrator is a third person narrator who knows everything. This kind of n

22、arrator can present an overview of events and characters, and can move in and out of the characters minds freely. The limited omniscient narrator gives a narration that focuses only on what a single person experiences. In other words, events are limited to one persons perspective, and nothing is rev

23、ealed that the narrator does not see, hear, feel, or think about. The third-person narration :The Nave Narrator A nave narrator is a story teller who does not fully understand the significance of the story he is telling, thus a special literary effect, which we call dramatic irony, is achieved between his limited understanding and the readers better understanding of the situation. The Nave Narrator A Reading and Textual Analysis