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There are several kinds of imagination, about past, future, things that do not
really exist. Author invents things, even in works with historical figures or events,
when author adds information that are not factual, the work becomes fictional. All
types of literary works include fictionality.
In these types of works space and time of work are not the same as in reality.
influence of literature on people. He also looks into language used in works and
how it contributes to works nature. Other important thing in his theory is how
literature and genres change through time, how peoples taste in literature
changes depending on social standards of certain times.
Theory forms system of concepts. It is hard to give completely universal
definition of concepts because literature changes every day, there are new works
published all the time which influence development. Also, there are terms from
ancient times which are still used, like ode, or hymn; and there are relatively new
terms like pulp fiction, or science fiction.
Literary criticism concentrates on specific work and author. It deals with
comparison and analysis of literary work and is closely related to literary theory.
Literary criticism has probably existed for as long as literature. In the 4th century
BC Aristotle wrote the Poetics, a typology and description of literary forms with
many specific criticisms of contemporary works of art. The value of literary
criticism has been questioned by some prominent artists.
Epic in prose
Epic in prose existed even in Ancient Greece. It differed from epic poetry in
characters, themes and importance; it didnt deal with heroes but ordinary people,
it didnt celebrate national success but everyday life and was meant for
entertainment.
Every work needs to have plot, characters, setting, and them. Plot is defined
as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a
pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect. Characters are all persons in a
story, sometimes even animals or supernatural being can be characters. Setting of
the story refers to time and place when the story is happening. Theme is main
message of the work. Subject matter is anything that can be topic for a story; its
flexible with endless variety of topics and themes.
Novel comes from Italian novella meaning tale, piece of news. Its extended
piece of prose, longer than short story and novella, but with same elements. It also
has a lot of characters, more than one subject matter, plot and setting. Short story
has 2000-7500 words, no elaborate plot or none at all, deals with small number of
characters. Conflict of the story is either inner or outer. Most famous writer of short
stories is E. A. Poe who said that short story has unified effect, is compact, with
condensed time and space. It became popular in 2 nd part of 18thC with gothic
novels. Nowadays, short stories deal with ethnic and social issues, race and gender
equality, family conflicts
Novella is prose fictional narrative with limited number of characters focused
on one event. Its similar to short story but longer (17000-50000 words). It always
contains the element of suspense, unexpected turning point and ends abruptly. It
always has a symbol in its middle, something that has to be solved at the end.
Forms of fiction
Non-fiction is one of the two main divisions in prose writing, the other form
being fiction. Non-fiction is a story based on real facts and information. Non-fiction
is a narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and
descriptions are believed by the author to be factual. The usual non-fiction works
are biographies, essays, interviews, newspaper articles, documentaries etc.
Simplicity, clarity and directness are some of the most important considerations
when producing non-fiction because the purpose of non-fictional work is to inform,
not entertain. Non-fiction can also be written about fiction, giving information
about these other works. Some of the facts the work is based upon might not be
really true, but the writer represents them like they are true. Biographies are
especially dubious, as not all the facts in them can be proven true or false.
Fiction is the form of any work that deals, in part or in whole, with
information or events that are not real, but rather, imaginary and theoretical,
invented by the author with intention to entertain the reader. Fictional works can
be placed in reality, but always have some imaginary content. It is divided into
three categories. First is realistic fiction which although untrue, could actually
happen, e.g. crime stories like Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes, or some scifi works like Jules Vernes From the Earth to the Moon. Second type is non-realistic
fiction in which the story's events could not happen in real life, like J.K. Rowlings
Harry Potter or G.R.R. Martins Game of Thrones. Semi-fiction is fiction
implementing a great deal of non-fiction, for example: a fictional depiction "based
on a true story", or a fictionalized account, or a reconstructed biography.
Traditionally, fiction includes novels, short stories, fables, fairy tales, plays, poetry,
but it now also encompasses films, comic books, and video games.
Language also differs as fiction and non-fiction are written with different
purpose and audience in mind. Non-fiction is there to inform and persuade the
reader that something is real and therefore language must be simple, without too
which thoughts of a poet were not finished. It had three parts: strophe, antistrophe
and epode. In English literature, famous were Miltons Nativity Ode, Shelleys Ode
to the West Wind and all Keats Great Odes.
Elegy at first used to refer to song written in elegiac couplet (6+5), and in
5 C it began to refer to lamentation songs. First elegies were Greek, and they were
about passing of all things, love, misfortunes and suffering, they were also more
objective and focused on myths and legends. Subjectivity in elegies started in 1 stC
with Latin poets. Famous modern elegies are Night Thoughts by E. Young, Miltons
Lycidas and in honor of Keats, Shelleys Adonais.
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Dramatic unities
The classical unities are rules for drama derived from a passage in Aristotle's
Poetics. Those unities are unity of action which is necessary concentration and
development, and unity of time meaning that only 24 most crucial hours must be
represented in dramatic work. J. C. Scaliger expanded these ideas to create the
three unities in 1561. Sometimes, works lack one of the unities, like
Shakespeares King Lear. Most important unity today is one of action.
The Unity of Action limits the supposed action to a single set of incidents
which are related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, middle, and an end."
No scene is to be included that does not advance the plot directly. No subplots, no
characters who do not advance the action. Events must be realistic and following a
single plotline, without unnecessary characters, only those important for the plot.
The Unity of Time limits the supposed action to the duration, roughly, of a
single day. Scaliger shortened this time into 2-3h as much as it takes to view the
play, at most one day compressed into a couple of hours. Skipping ahead in time
over the course of several days or years was considered undesirable, because the
audience was thought to be incapable of suspending disbelief regarding the
passage of time.
The third is unity of space, meaning the play must take place in a single
setting or location. It was usual for the whole play to be set into one room, castle
or woods; scenery rarely changed only characters circulated through the same
place. In later years, this unity was not as important as unity of action.
Dramatic structure
Dramatic works follow five-part structure: exposition or introduction,
complication, climax or crisis, resolution or peripeteia, and catastrophe or epilogue.
First is introduction which sets the background for the later action. Here
audience also meets central characters, heroes and heroines of the play. During
this part happens the incentive moment, start of the cause and effect and all later
action.
In the rising action, a series of related incidents build toward the point of
greatest interest. The rising action of a story is the series of events that begin
immediately after the exposition (introduction) of the story and builds up to the
climax. These events are generally the most important parts of the story since the
entire plot depends on them to set up the climax, and ultimately the satisfactory
resolution of the story itself.
The climax is the turning point, which changes the protagonists fate. If the
story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point;
now, the plot will begin to unfold in his or her favor, often requiring the protagonist
to draw on hidden inner strengths. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of
affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist, often
revealing the protagonist's hidden weaknesses.
During the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and the
antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist.
The falling action may contain a moment of final suspense, in which the final
outcome of the conflict is in doubt.
The comedy ends with a dnouement (a conclusion), in which the
protagonist is better off than at the story's outset. The tragedy ends with a
catastrophe, in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the
narrative. The dnouement /denum/ comprises events from the end of the
falling action to the actual ending scene of the drama or narrative.