Lit Terms

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Antagonist:

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The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama; one who opposes and contends against another

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Anticlimax:

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viewed in disappointing contrast with a previous rise

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Antihero:

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A main character in a dramatic or narrative work that is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage

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Archetype

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An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned

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Black humor/ black comedy:

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Combining the morbid and grotesque with humor and mockery to give a disturbing effect and convey the absurdity and cruelty of life

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Character:

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The combination of qualities or features that distinguishes one person, group, or thing from another

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Dynamic:

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In literature or drama, a character who undergoes a permanent change in outlook or character during the story; also called developing character

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Flat:

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A literary character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change in the course of the story

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Round:

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A complex literary character with fully developed and dynamic traits

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Static:

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A literary character who remains basically unchanged throughout a work

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Climax:

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A moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a crisis; the turning point in a plot or dramatic action

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Conflict:

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Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot

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Deus ex machina:

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An unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot

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Distopia:

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A work of fiction describing an imaginary place where life is extremely bad because of deprivation, oppression, or terror

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Epilogue:

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A short addition or concluding section at the end of a literary work, often dealing with the future of its characters; also called afterword

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Epiphany:

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A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization

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Exposition:

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A statement or rhetorical discourse intended to give information about or an explanation of difficult material

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Flashback:

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A literary or cinematic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological order of a narrative

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Foil

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One that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another

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Gestalt:

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a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts

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Hero:

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A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life

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Incident

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An occurrence or event that interrupts normal procedure or precipitates a crisis

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In medias res:

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In or into the middle of a sequence of events

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Malaprop:

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The unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar

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Motif:

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Recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work

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Motivation:

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Motivating force, stimulus, or influence

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Naïve narrator:

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Narrator that is not aware of all situations around him/her that the reader is aware of

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Narrative voice:

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The voice of the narrator

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Pathetic fallacy:

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The attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to nature; for example, angry clouds; a cruel wind

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Pathos:

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A quality that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow

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Point of view:

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A position from which something is observed or considered; the attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature

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First person:

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A discourse or literary style in which the narrator recounts his or her own experiences or impressions

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Objective:

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Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices; presented factually

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Omniscient

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Having total knowledge of what is going on

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Limited:

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Views are limited/restricted to a certain point

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Third person:

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Pronouns and verbs that are used to refer to something other than the speaker or addressee of the language in which they occur; speaker talks about another character and what they are feeling using "he"/"she" pronouns

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Unlimited:

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Views have no restrictions or controls over them

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Prologue:

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An introduction or introductory chapter

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Reversal:

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A change of an emotion into the opposite; for example love to hate

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Rising action:

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The events of a dramatic or narrative plot preceding the climax

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Protagonist:

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The main character in a drama or other literary work

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Subplot:

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A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work or film; also called counterplot

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Theme:

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Unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary work

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Unreliable narrator:

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Narrator that seems to be telling the truth, but the reader finds out in the end that everything was untrue

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Utopia:

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An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects

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Villain:

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A dramatic or fictional character that is typically at odds with the hero; mainly portrayed as evil and what not

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Wit:

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The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things

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Zeitgeist:

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The spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation

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Anticlimax

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an effect that spoils a climax. Adjective: Anticlimactic.

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Archetype

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A pattern or model of an action, a character type, or an image that recurs consistently enough in life and literature to be considered universal.

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Utopia

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a desirable imaginary society. ( in Sir Thomas More’s work, for ex.)

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theme

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an abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of its subject matter, or a topic recurring in a number of literary works. Themes include love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc. Remember that in explaining theme, one word is not enough—explain what the author is saying about that idea ;-)

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symbol

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anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it, usually an idea conventionally associated with it.

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Suspension of Disbelief

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the demand made of an audience to provide some details with their imagination and to accept the limitations of reality and staging; also the acceptance of the incidents of a plot by a reader.

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Suspense

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a quality that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.

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Subplot

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a secondary series of events that are subordinate to the main story; a story within a story

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Stereotype

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a character who represents a trait generally attributed to a social or racial group and lacks other individualizing traits (the nagging wife, the hardboiled detective, the hot-headed Italian, etc.)

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Reliability

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the extent to which a narrator can be trusted or believed. The closer the narrator is to the story, the more his judgment will be influenced by forces in the story.

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Third person limited

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the author limits him/herself to a complete knowledge of only one character in the story and tells the reader only what that one character feels, thinks, sees or hears.

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Third person omniscient

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the author knows all (godlike) and is free to tell reader many things, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.

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Third person objective –

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the author limits him/herself to reporting what the characters say or do; he or she does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings.

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First person –

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the story is told by one of its characters, using the first person pronoun “I” which does not give the reader insight into other characters’ motives or thoughts.

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narrative voice

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the attitude, personality or character of the narrator as it is revealed through dialogue or descriptive and narrative commentary.

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confidant

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omeone that the protagonist talks to, enabling the audience or reader to become aware of the protagonist’s motivation.

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Explication de texte

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the detailed analysis, or close reading of a passage of verse or prose. Such explication seeks to make meaning clear through a painstaking examination and explanation of style, language, symbolism, and the relationship of parts to the whole.