Great Works Vocab Words

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Affective Fallacy

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The judging of a work based solely on its emotional effect, often due to a confusion between the text and its results on readers

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Ambiguity

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The state of having more than one meaning, which shows how words can have multiple meanings simultaneously, allowing for richness and complexity of expression

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Aporia

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A difficulty, impasse, or point of doubt or indecision in a narrative

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Canon

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An authorized or accepted list of books, or an accepted list of works by an author. Often used to describe a standard of judgment or criteria of value

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Figurative Language

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The intentional departure from the normal order, construction, or meaning of words

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Flat Character

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A character constructed around a single quality. Usually immediately recognizable as such, and can often be summarized in a single sentence or statement

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Freytag's "Pyramid"

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Narratives begin with an exposition that turns into a complication as the plot gains tension or rising action. At the apex of complication, a climax occurs, in which the tension of the narrative are brought to crisis. This then leads to a reversal and subsequent catastrophe – often referred to as dénouement, or “unknotting” – as the plot undergoes falling action and the tension is resolved. Where these events occur in the narrative is shaped by historical and cultural forces, and the extent to which authors wish to abide by or reject those forces

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Heresy of Paraphrase

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Especially true in poetry, the idea that the meaning of a text is found only in the language employed in the text, and that the summary, abridgement, or expansion of that language inevitability misses the point of the text, usually by understanding its complexity

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Intentional Fallacy

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The judging of the meaning of success of a work solely based on the author’s expressed intention in producing it, often due to the same circumstances that perpetuate the affective fallacy

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Misreading

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A reading – or reading in general – that makes a misunderstanding in perception or interpretation. Any reading of a text may contain misreadings, often unintentionally, but sometimes deliberately, to positive interpretive effect

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Naïve Narrator

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A narrator who, usually due to youth, innocence, or impairment, does not fully realize the implications of their narrative. A naïve narrator must inform readers enough so that the implications of their narrative are clearer to the reader than they are to the narrator

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Narrative

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An account of events: the story itself

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Narrative Discourse

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The structure of that account: the way in which the story in told, or the plot of the story. Flashbacks, flashforwards, and in medias res are devices of narrative discourse

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Overreading

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The importing of material into a text that is not present in the text

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Paradox

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A statement or expression that, although seemingly contradictory or absurd, may actually be well-founded or true; an indicator of the conceptual limits of language and discourse

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Paratext

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Materials outside the narrative that are in some way connected to the narrative. Paratexts can be physically attached to the narrative (such as prefaces, table of contents, title pages, blurbs on the jacket, illustrations.) They can also be separated from the narrative but nevertheless connected by association (comments by the author, reviews of the narrative, other works by the same author.) They have the capacity to inflect the way we read and interpret a narrative, sometimes powerfully

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Point of View

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The vantage-point from which the events of a text are presented to readers

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Round Character

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A character sufficiently complex to be able to surprise the reader without losing credibility

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Underreading

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The neglecting of material that is present in the text

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Unreliable Narrator

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A narrator who may be in error of his or her understanding or report of things and who thus leaves readers without the guides needed for making judgments