World Literature Terms

Front 1

Plot

Back 1

According to Aristotle, an “an imitation of an action,” by which he appears to have meant the imitation of a large scale, significant event. Most writers distinguish between the plot, which is seen as the arrangement of the events as they are presented, and the story, which is simply what happens.

Front 2

Narrative (as opposed to scene)

Back 2

The condensing of events to cover extended periods of time rapidly. The term narrative is also used to denote a story in general, or a mode of development in a passage—a narrative, instead of description or exposition, for example.

Front 3

Scene

Back 3

The depiction of action and dialogue at a pace that seems to be the same as that at which it would occur in the real world.

Front 4

Scene au faire

Back 4

A scene that is made necessary by the previous action. It often answers the dramatic question or resolves the conflict. Today, many works leave out a strong scene au faire, imply it, refuse to resolve the conflict in a simple way, or suggest that a final resolution cannot take place.

Front 5

Mythos

Back 5

The Greek word best translated into English as story or plot.

Front 6

Freytag’s diagram

Back 6

The triangle created by Gustav Freytag to illustrate Aristotle’s strictures about the plot of a play. In this model, exposition is followed by rising action and one or more reversals that end in a climax that allows a falling action.

Front 7

Exposition

Back 7

The section or sections of a work that expose the situation and the characters. In some works, the exposition is a distinct section at the beginning. Others may allow the characters and situation to be revealed gradually.

Front 8

Rising action

Back 8

The middle of a work, in which the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist builds. Often, the protagonist alternates between victory and defeat.

Front 9

Climax

Back 9

In a dramatic plot, the resolution of the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist.

Front 10

Falling action

Back 10

The end of the play, following the climax, which reveals the result of the conflict having been resolved. In romantic comedies, the falling action usually shows the couple finally united after the barrier is defeated.

Front 11

In medias res

Back 11

“In the middle of things,” where Horace argues a narrative should begin, thus letting the writer move to the heart of the motivations of the action. It because most works begin in medias res that exposition is needed.

Front 12

Parallel scenes

Back 12

Similar scenes in which a contrast emphasize the differences between characters or a change in a character. Most often, the first of the two scenes appears near the start of a work, and the second, parallel, scene appears near the end, underscoring the changes in the situation or the character. Faced with a situation in an opening scene, for example, a character may react one way, but faced with a similar situation near the end, she may choose a different path, indicating that over the course of the work, she has changed.

Front 13

Episode

Back 13

In a longer work, a self-contained sequence that is for the most part unrelated to the other events in the work. There is often an overarching goal, such as reaching home, and each episode often shows the protagonist overcoming some obstacle to reaching it.

Front 14

An episodic plot

Back 14

A plot in which the sequences of events are not causally related. The protagonist often travels and meets new characters and obstacles.

Front 15

A dramatic plot

Back 15

A plot in which the same characters conflict over the length of the entire work, usually in a limited location.

Front 16

Protagonist

Back 16

The central character, not to be confused with a hero.

Front 17

Antagonist

Back 17

The character, force, or circumstances that oppose the protagonist. The antagonist is by no means always a villain.

Front 18

The confidant

Back 18

A minor character to whom another characters reveals his thoughts, or worries. Often used as a method of exposition. Not all characters to whom the past are revealed would be considered confidants, however. In plays and most films, the past must be revealed through dialogue, so other minor or major characters can be told of the past, or discuss it.

Front 19

The foil

Back 19

A character who shares some of the qualities of the protagonist, but differs significantly, creating a contrast that makes the central character more precisely defined.

Front 20

Round character

Back 20

E.M. Forster’s term for a character who, like a globe, has too many sides, is too complex, to be seen at one glance, or who is capable of change. In serious fiction, the protagonists are round characters.

Front 21

Flat character

Back 21

E.M. Forster’s term for a character who can be seen at one glance, and who does not change.

Front 22

The beloved

Back 22

In love poetry, the formal name for the loved one.

Front 23

The barrier

Back 23

In romantic comedy, the character or set of circumstances that prevent the lovers from being together.

Front 24

The epic

Back 24

A long work tracing either a war or the return home from a war.

Front 25

Terms used in discussing epics

Back 25

.

Front 26

Epic (or Homeric) simile

Back 26

An extended comparison

Front 27

Homeric epithet

Back 27

the use of a quality of a person instead of the person’s name. In The Odyssey, for example Athena is often called “the gray-eyed goddess.”

Front 28

Lyric poetry

Back 28

Poetry that is song-like in mood. (Consider the word “lyrics,” the words to a song.)

Front 29

Ode

Back 29

Formally, a poem of praise or celebration. However, some poems, such as those by the Roman poet Horace, have been called odes even though they do not praise of celebrate.

Front 30

Elegy

Back 30

A poem mourning a death. Often an elegy has elements of an ode, since it praises the person who has died. Love poems are often elegiac in tone, if they lament the loss of the beloved.

Front 31

Romantic comedy, the structure of

Back 31

The couple meets and falls in love, is separated by a barrier, and manages to defeat the barrier and be reunited. Often romantic comedies start in medias res, so the relationship and the struggles of the couple to reunite are the focus. More commercial works often instead dwell on the initial meeting of the couple and focus more on the plot than examining the relationship seriously.

Front 32

Tragedy

Back 32

Many attempts have made to define the exact requirements that a tragedy must fulfill. The most thorough attempts are those of Aristotle in The Poetics and Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. In seeking to define tragedy, however, these and other writers select works that meet their definitions and ignore others that would force a broader definition. All of the writers agree that a tragedy is a work depicting the fall of a significant person. However, they differ over the extent to which the protagonist should be responsible for his or her destruction, the degree to which the tragic protagonist should be a good person, and the relationship between the fall of the protagonist and the social order. (In some plays, such as Hamlet, the destruction of the protagonist causes, or is echoed, in the destruction of the social order. In others, such as Oedipus Rex and King Lear, the protagonist creates or has created a crisis that can only be resolved with his or her destruction, which in turn leads to a healing of the social order. In tragedy, many people suffer—partly to make the central character suffer, and partly to reveal the suffering he or she must endure, family members and loved ones also often die.

Front 33

Terms used in discussing tragedy

Back 33

.

Front 34

Peripetia

Back 34

The discovery of identity that occurs near the end of a tragedy. Most often, the protagonist learns that he is not who he thought he was—he has a different father and mother.

Front 35

Fear and pity

Back 35

According to Aristotle, the emotions that the audience feels while watching the destruction of the tragic protagonist: The pity arises out of empathy for the character. The audience members feel fear because they see that a similar fate could await them.

Front 36

Catharsis

Back 36

Aristotle’s term for the release of tension that comes from watching the destruction of tragic protagonist. The audience may feel that it has itself escaped destruction.

Front 37

Tragicomedy

Back 37

There are two forms of tragicomedy. Both use the structure of the romantic comedy, but leave the audience or reader with a sense of loss at the end. In one form, two couples fall in love and are separated. Usually one couple reunites at the end, while the other does not. This form is less popular, since the doubling of the plot lengthens the story considerably and often forces a simplification of the characters. The more popular form is that of an abbreviated romantic comedy that traces the fate of one couple which is unable to reunite at the end. Often, one or both of the characters dies.

Front 38

Tear jerker

Back 38

A slang term that means, literally, a machine made to create tears. Like a tragicomedy, the usual plot is that of an abbreviated comedy: the couple is separated and at the end prevented from overcoming the barrier. A tear-jerker differs from a tragicomedy in that its characters are broadly drawn. The protagonists are almost flawless and the barrier is simplified as either a villain (a flat character) or a disease or accident, and the entire story concentrates on the love relationship. In other words, its only intention is to create tears, with neither psychological insight nor an examination of romantic love or larger issues. One or both of the characters almost always dies at the end.

Front 39

A romance

Back 39

The term used to denote medieval works in which a knight has adventures. Most often he must face a series of tests to prove his worthiness to a beloved, and encounters supernatural obstacles. The term is derived from “Roman” and thus latin narratives, usually of soldiers returning from a war. They themselves derive from Homer’s Odyssey and more directly from Virgil’s Aeneid, which tells the story of the protagonist’s flight from Troy after the Trojan War. The term implies a sense of fantastical events. Poets in the 19th century who were called “Romantic” were thus, at first, being spoken of as having following a path that departed from the real world.

Front 40

Bildungsroman

Back 40

A novel of education. Usually, the novel traces the protagonist from the time he or she leaves school into adulthood.

Front 41

Roman-fleuve

Back 41

Literally, a “stream novel” or a “river novel” or sequence of novels tracing the lives of several characters slowly.

Front 42

Naturalistic tragedy

Back 42

A work in which the protagonist is destroyed by social and economic forces. Emile Zola’s extended essay “The Experimental Novel” argues that novels should adopt this form. He claims Madame Bovary as an instance.

Front 43

The “New Novel” (the anti-novel)

Back 43

A novel that attempts to reject what is seen to be as outdated notions of characters and plots and to instead render experience more directly. Its major proponent and exemplar was Alain Robbe-Grillet, who saw Camus as a source in The Stranger.

Front 44

Roman a these

Back 44

A novel that attempts to demonstrate a thesis. The action is presented as evidence that proves a general truth, in the same way that experimental data is used to demonstrate a theory or evidence is used in an argument.

Front 45

Roman a clef

Back 45

Literally, a “novel with a key,” in the sense of a key to a map. A novel which is based on actual events. The key is in reality left out—the reader must interpret which character is intended to represent which real person.

Front 46

Melodrama

Back 46

Literally, a drama with music (a melodic drama), and by implication, a work that relies so heavily on strong action that little or no dialogue is needed.

Front 47

Sonnet

Back 47

A fourteen line poem, usually in iambic pentameter. Although many sonnets are love poems, many address other subjects. The name refers only to the structure.

Front 48

Italian sonnet

Back 48

A sonnet that usually follows the rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA in the octave (the first eight lines) and another varying pattern in the sestet (the last 6 lines.) The logical or emotional shift that occurs with the start of the sestet is the volta. Usually, an Italian sonnet has no final couplet.

Front 49

English sonnet

Back 49

A sonnet that follows the rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. Note that the rhymes shift earlier and thus the distinction between the octave and sestet are less immediately heard. However, the volta is retained. Note that the English sonnet adds a final couplet.

Front 50

Allegory

Back 50

A story in which the characters and often the events represent abstract qualities or ethical or political positions.

Front 51

Point of View

Back 51

The perspective from which a work is told. The forms correspond, at times, with the personal pronouns, so the essential forms are first person narration, second person point of view, which is rare, and third person point of view. Each of the forms has variations, and more than one form may appear in a given work, particularly longer works. For more details, and for writing about the often complex subject of point of view, see the handout “Writing About Point of View.”

Front 52

First person

Back 52

The story is told by a specific narrator who may or may not appear in the story.

Front 53

Reliable

Back 53

A reliable first person pov is one in which, as might be expected, the narrator’s interpretations and choices are to be trusted as accurate and not dictated by personal interest.

Front 54

Unreliable

Back 54

An unreliable first person pov is one in which, as might be expected, the narrator’s interpretations and choices are questionable, and may not be trusted as accurate and not dictated by personal interest. Often, the question of how to evaluate the actions and interpretations of the pov character and the others is central to the work. We are left uncertain, reflecting a modern view that interpretation is difficult and that an objective perspective may never be available.

Front 55

Second person

Back 55

Although unusual, it is not rare. Its continual use of the pronoun “you,” (the narrator is speaking to himself of herself), can expand to refer to the reader and to other characters, and can create a claustrophobic sense that the narrator is unable to escape from an inner monologue.

Front 56

Third person

Back 56

.

Front 57

Omniscient

Back 57

A point of view that can move anywhere, to follow or enter into the mind of any character. Usually, an omniscient pov follows a limited set of characters. One could describe it as combining several third person limited pov’s.

Front 58

Third person limited

Back 58

A pov that follows only one character.

Front 59

Third person subjective or close

Back 59

A pov that witnesses the story through the eyes and mind of one of the characters, often the protagonist. This pov and a first person pov are by far the pov’s that are most often used today.

Front 60

Stream of consciousness

Back 60

A pov that attempts to echo the free-flowing thought of a character, relying more on association than logic.

Front 61

Objective

Back 61

A pov that renders only the external world, letting actions, dialogue, and images convey the sense of the story. (This pov is capable of great subtlety. Tolstoy, Flaubert, Woolf, and Hemingway, for example, are known for implying emotion without stating it.)