Lit: Glossary
Oct. 26th, 2006 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethDoing a bit of consolidation before I do new reading.
Thought I'd make a list of all the words I've learned thus far and their meanings.
The York Notes books have handy pages at the back, so I can copy those, then go look in the bigger books for other words.
from the GE York Notes Advanced
caricature to get at the essence of an idea or personality by significant, selective exaggeration
fable a narrative designed to illustrate a moral truth
farce, farcical a form of drama or acting with exaggerated comic action
gothic in 18th or 19th literature, an imaginative projection of extreme and alarming experience
idyll an idealised portrayal of happy innocence, usually in a country setting
irony, ironic using words in a sense or context that implies the opposite meaning to what is actually said
melodramatic exagerated expression of simple emotions
metaphor, metaphoric using language to identify one thing in terms of another
metonymy, metonymic the substitution of an attribute of something for the thing itself
mock-heroic writing in a comically exaggerated, solemn manner
motif a significantly repeated image or phrase
parody a mocking copy of something serious
pathos evoking pity or sadness
persona a mask used to project the writer's personality through another character
personification giving human qualities to inanimate objects
picaresque novel a favourite form of fiction in the 18th century narrating the adventures of a rogue through all levels of society
satire, satirical holding up vice or folly to ridicule
simile describing one thing in terms of another by making the point of comparison obvious
symbol, symbolic investing objects in the material world with the suggestive power of abstract, complex ideas
/from the GE York Notes Advanced
from the Beloved York Notes Advanced
alliteration a sequence of repeated consonantal sounds in a stretch of language. The matching consonants are usually at the beginning of words or stressed syllables.
allusion passing references. Morrison, through her many allusions to the pain of losing contact with one's children, strengthens an aspect of the destructive power of slavery.
analogy a literary parallel. An analogy is a word, thing, idea or story which can help to explain whatever it is similar to: for example, schoolteacher's choice of analogies to explain Sethe's behaviour invovle comparing her to a dog or horse.
assonance the correspondence or near correspondence in two words of the stressed vowel, and sometimes those which follow, but, unlike rhyme, not of the consonants. It is the vowel equivalent of alliteration.
associative the sometimes arbitrary relationship between ideas in the mind, used by psychoanalysts to explore the subconscious. Stream of consciousness narratives are associative in both form and narrative structure.
asyntactic language that is lacking full grammatical arrangement
cathartic the 'purging' effect of tragic drama on the audience (a term devised by Aristotle)
canon, canonicity the Canon has come to mean the collected 'great works' of literature. Morrison, by virtue of her race and sex, would not in theory qualify for a place in this collection and the content and form of her works threaten many of its established values.
contextualise to put in context
dénouement the final unfolding of the plot
dialogic texts which allow the expression of a variety of points of view, in the manner of dialogue in drama, leaving the reader with open questions
eponymous the character of a book whose name is used as its title
interior monologue an attempt to convey in words the process of consciousness or thought
intertextual a term invented by the French critic Julia Kristeva to refer to the many and various kinds of relationship that exist between texts. Intertextual readings of Beloved have included examining it in terms of the Gothic and comparing it to 19th century white American texts such as The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
irony saying one thing but conveying another meaning
juxtaposition placing side by side
lexical relating to items of vocabulary in a language
linear narrative narrative recounted chronologically
metaphor the description of one thing as another thing
multi-accentuality the capacity of words to have different meanings according to the contexts in which they are used. Words, far from having a fixed signification, may be the focus of conflict. For example, the implications of the word 'nurse' as used by Sethe.
onomatopaeia words that sound like the noise they describe
paradox an apparently self-contradictory statement, or one that seems in conflict with all logic and opinion; yet lying behind the superficial absurdity is a meaning or truth.
paratactic the placing of clauses, sentences or propositions side by side without connecting words.
polyphonic (music) where two or more strands (instruments or voices) sound simultaneously. Different points of view allowed to co-exist rather than being organised to support a single authorial position.
polysemous the capacity of words to have several seperable meanings
protagonist the leading character in the novel
signifier according to Saussure words are considered as signs made up of two elements, the signifier (the noises, or marks on paper, which constitute the sign) and the signified (the meaning to which the sign refers). {be adds - importantly, there is no necessary or logical connection, the connection is arbitrary}
stream of consciousness an attempt to convey all the contents of a character's mind - memory, sense perceptions, feelings, intuitions, thoughts - in relation to the stream of experience as it passes by, often at random.
symbol mark, token, sign
synecdoche a figure of speech in which a part is used to describe the whole of something or vice versa. In Beloved 'mossy teeth' comes to stand for schoolteacher's nephews and also for white oppressors in general.
synonym a word with a meaning identical to another word.
tokenism the impropriety of drawing too many assumptions about African-American literature in its entirety after reading one text.
zeugma words or phrases with different meanings are linked with comic effect by being made syntactically dependent on the same word, often a verb. {be asks - and for this one they have no example? Great.}
/York Notes Beloved
Handouts:
These are photocopied from all over the place. I'm going to try and make them make into a little list of words to go here. This... may not work so well.
Narratology The study of how narratives make meaning, and what basic mechanisms and procedures are which are common to all acts of story telling. The attempt to study the nature of 'story' itself, as a concept and as a cultural concept.
Story the actual sequence of events as they happen, has to begin at the beginning and move chronologically with nothing left out.
Plot those events as they are edited, ordered, packaged, and presented, in what we recognise as a narrative. May well begin somewhere in the middle of a chain of events, then backtrack, providing a flashback which fills the reader in on what happened earlier. May also have flash-forward hinting at things which will happen later.
Alternatively:
fabula=story sjuzhet=plot
histoire=story recit=plot
BUT the words often have particular differences depending on who is using them.
see here
Narrative, narrating, discourse, probably a few others, all in the front of Narrative discourse and that one by the dude with the long name... Er, yes, this note is only useful to me, and I can correct it if I just get the paper off my lap and go pick up the books six feet away.
Three different theories
Aristotle
Poetics: Character & action essential elements, character must be revealed through action, which is to say through aspects of the plot.
harmartia 'sin' or 'fault', tragic drama = fatal character-defect 'tragic flaw'
anagnorisis 'recognition' or 'realisation', moment truth is known
peripeteia 'turn around' or reversal of fortune. In tragedy = fall from high to low estate. {there are other possibilities}
A is about underlying themes and moral purposes of stories, deep content => inner events
Vladimir Propp
The Morphology of the Folktale
structures and plot formulations
all tales constructed from 31 functions, possible actions
1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home
2. An interdiction [that is, a prohibition] is addressed to the hero
3. The interdiction is violated
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance
5. The villain receives information about his victim
6. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings
7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy
8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of a family
OR 8a. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something
9. Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched
10. The seeker [that is, the hero in 'questor' mode] agrees to or decides upon counteraction
11. The hero leaves home
12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, which perpares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor
14. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent [that is, an object, and animal, etc]
15. The hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search
16. The hero and the villain join in direct combat
17. The hero is branded
18. The villain is defeated
19. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated
20. The hero returns
21. The hero is pursued
22. Rescue of the hero from pursuit
23. The hero, unrecognised, arrives home or in another country
24. A false hero presents unfounded claims
25. A difficult task is proposed to the hero
26. The task is resolved
27. The hero is recognised
28. The false hero or villain is exposed
29. The false hero is given a new appearance
30. The villain is punished
31. The hero is married and ascends the throne
They must happen in this order, but they don't have to all happen.
So you could get 1,5,7,9 but not 1,3,2,4.
No tale (according to Propp) has all 31, they select from the list.
Different dishes cooked from the same range of ingredients.
More superficial level, surface events.
[Barry, p227-228]
{That list looks a bit dodgy to me. I mean, some items look like more than one item, and there's a sneaky 'or' in the middle. So calling it 31 things don't seem quite right. except other things seem to be more or less one thing even listed as two - I mean how is deception and being decieved not the same plot point?}
{which is exactly what the text book points out too}
7 roles
1. villain
2. donor
3. helper
4. princess (a sought-for person) + father
5. dispatcher
6. hero
7. false hero
these 'spheres of action' are roles, but some call them characters
BUT - One character can play more than one role - e.g. villain may also be false hero.
{I want to read this a bit more - why bundle princess and parent?}
"Using the list of 31 functions and 7 spheres of action {roles}, we can generate the plot of any individual folk tale in the entire Russian corpus, just as, armed with
the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of English (the lanuge, in Saussure's terms)
we can generate
any possible utterance in English (the parole)."
"In realist fiction, the subordination of character to action is reversed, and roles cannot be simply demarcated as 'hero' and 'villain'. Henry James, the supreme psychological novelist, once said taht he wrote not about good and evil, but about 'good-and-evil'. Hence, in a Henry James story, a would-be helper may inadvertently be a hinderer, or may even be unsure which they 'truly' are."
archetypes - simple archetypes can provide the shadowy deep foundations of complex fictions - eg Cinderella archetype beneath Jane Eyre.
Gerard Genette
Narrative Discourse
{I have that one sitting waiting to be read. I've read 86 pages, which is up to the end of the bit explaining analepsis and prolepsis and stuff.}
Six basic questions {each with their own vocabulary}
1. Is the basic narrative mode 'mimetic' or 'diagetic'?
2. How is the narrative focalised?
3. Who is telling the story?
4. How is time handled in the story?
5. How is the story 'packaged'?
6. How are speech and thought represented?
1.
mimetic showing, dramatising. contains direct speech. slow. creating the illusion reader sees and hears.
diagetic telling, relating. summarising. rapid. panoramic. give information efficiently.
writers usually blend both modes.
2.
focalisation point of view, viewpoint, perspective.
3.
4.
analepsis flashback
prolepsis flashforward
ellipsis time gap
paralipsis data gap - telling a time but leaving out aspects, like if Jack mentioned a boyfriend but not a planet
5.
frame If the story starts by someone sitting around a campfire to tell a story, that is a frame. Other varieties exist. Its about if there's a story within a story.
6.
Handout ends with summary:
"Firstly, we have the crucial distinction between story and plot, which alerts us to questions of how the narrative is designed, and, indeed, what designs it may have upon us. Secondly, Aristotle's categories tune us to some of the deep-lying, psychic fundamentals of narrative: thirdly Propp's system provides data for considering some of the surface specifics of plots, and fourthly, Genette's material directs our attention to how the story is told, how it sets about achieving its designs."
All the numbered lists get a bit monotonous. I should start playing with colour to make them distinct or link them together as necessary. But that will be twiddly fun, I'll stick to the data part right now.
Note to self: Start day with chocolate, middle it with headache. This is known. Why do this again? :eyeroll:
(Am curing it with loud music and dancing. Well, it works at conventions...)
It is all dark with rain around here. I'm going to post just because I don't trust that 'autosaved' bit. There will be more.
Thought I'd make a list of all the words I've learned thus far and their meanings.
The York Notes books have handy pages at the back, so I can copy those, then go look in the bigger books for other words.
from the GE York Notes Advanced
caricature to get at the essence of an idea or personality by significant, selective exaggeration
fable a narrative designed to illustrate a moral truth
farce, farcical a form of drama or acting with exaggerated comic action
gothic in 18th or 19th literature, an imaginative projection of extreme and alarming experience
idyll an idealised portrayal of happy innocence, usually in a country setting
irony, ironic using words in a sense or context that implies the opposite meaning to what is actually said
melodramatic exagerated expression of simple emotions
metaphor, metaphoric using language to identify one thing in terms of another
metonymy, metonymic the substitution of an attribute of something for the thing itself
mock-heroic writing in a comically exaggerated, solemn manner
motif a significantly repeated image or phrase
parody a mocking copy of something serious
pathos evoking pity or sadness
persona a mask used to project the writer's personality through another character
personification giving human qualities to inanimate objects
picaresque novel a favourite form of fiction in the 18th century narrating the adventures of a rogue through all levels of society
satire, satirical holding up vice or folly to ridicule
simile describing one thing in terms of another by making the point of comparison obvious
symbol, symbolic investing objects in the material world with the suggestive power of abstract, complex ideas
/from the GE York Notes Advanced
from the Beloved York Notes Advanced
alliteration a sequence of repeated consonantal sounds in a stretch of language. The matching consonants are usually at the beginning of words or stressed syllables.
allusion passing references. Morrison, through her many allusions to the pain of losing contact with one's children, strengthens an aspect of the destructive power of slavery.
analogy a literary parallel. An analogy is a word, thing, idea or story which can help to explain whatever it is similar to: for example, schoolteacher's choice of analogies to explain Sethe's behaviour invovle comparing her to a dog or horse.
assonance the correspondence or near correspondence in two words of the stressed vowel, and sometimes those which follow, but, unlike rhyme, not of the consonants. It is the vowel equivalent of alliteration.
associative the sometimes arbitrary relationship between ideas in the mind, used by psychoanalysts to explore the subconscious. Stream of consciousness narratives are associative in both form and narrative structure.
asyntactic language that is lacking full grammatical arrangement
cathartic the 'purging' effect of tragic drama on the audience (a term devised by Aristotle)
canon, canonicity the Canon has come to mean the collected 'great works' of literature. Morrison, by virtue of her race and sex, would not in theory qualify for a place in this collection and the content and form of her works threaten many of its established values.
contextualise to put in context
dénouement the final unfolding of the plot
dialogic texts which allow the expression of a variety of points of view, in the manner of dialogue in drama, leaving the reader with open questions
eponymous the character of a book whose name is used as its title
interior monologue an attempt to convey in words the process of consciousness or thought
intertextual a term invented by the French critic Julia Kristeva to refer to the many and various kinds of relationship that exist between texts. Intertextual readings of Beloved have included examining it in terms of the Gothic and comparing it to 19th century white American texts such as The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
irony saying one thing but conveying another meaning
juxtaposition placing side by side
lexical relating to items of vocabulary in a language
linear narrative narrative recounted chronologically
metaphor the description of one thing as another thing
multi-accentuality the capacity of words to have different meanings according to the contexts in which they are used. Words, far from having a fixed signification, may be the focus of conflict. For example, the implications of the word 'nurse' as used by Sethe.
onomatopaeia words that sound like the noise they describe
paradox an apparently self-contradictory statement, or one that seems in conflict with all logic and opinion; yet lying behind the superficial absurdity is a meaning or truth.
paratactic the placing of clauses, sentences or propositions side by side without connecting words.
polyphonic (music) where two or more strands (instruments or voices) sound simultaneously. Different points of view allowed to co-exist rather than being organised to support a single authorial position.
polysemous the capacity of words to have several seperable meanings
protagonist the leading character in the novel
signifier according to Saussure words are considered as signs made up of two elements, the signifier (the noises, or marks on paper, which constitute the sign) and the signified (the meaning to which the sign refers). {be adds - importantly, there is no necessary or logical connection, the connection is arbitrary}
stream of consciousness an attempt to convey all the contents of a character's mind - memory, sense perceptions, feelings, intuitions, thoughts - in relation to the stream of experience as it passes by, often at random.
symbol mark, token, sign
synecdoche a figure of speech in which a part is used to describe the whole of something or vice versa. In Beloved 'mossy teeth' comes to stand for schoolteacher's nephews and also for white oppressors in general.
synonym a word with a meaning identical to another word.
tokenism the impropriety of drawing too many assumptions about African-American literature in its entirety after reading one text.
zeugma words or phrases with different meanings are linked with comic effect by being made syntactically dependent on the same word, often a verb. {be asks - and for this one they have no example? Great.}
/York Notes Beloved
Handouts:
These are photocopied from all over the place. I'm going to try and make them make into a little list of words to go here. This... may not work so well.
Narratology The study of how narratives make meaning, and what basic mechanisms and procedures are which are common to all acts of story telling. The attempt to study the nature of 'story' itself, as a concept and as a cultural concept.
Story the actual sequence of events as they happen, has to begin at the beginning and move chronologically with nothing left out.
Plot those events as they are edited, ordered, packaged, and presented, in what we recognise as a narrative. May well begin somewhere in the middle of a chain of events, then backtrack, providing a flashback which fills the reader in on what happened earlier. May also have flash-forward hinting at things which will happen later.
Alternatively:
fabula=story sjuzhet=plot
histoire=story recit=plot
BUT the words often have particular differences depending on who is using them.
see here
Narrative, narrating, discourse, probably a few others, all in the front of Narrative discourse and that one by the dude with the long name... Er, yes, this note is only useful to me, and I can correct it if I just get the paper off my lap and go pick up the books six feet away.
Three different theories
Aristotle
Poetics: Character & action essential elements, character must be revealed through action, which is to say through aspects of the plot.
harmartia 'sin' or 'fault', tragic drama = fatal character-defect 'tragic flaw'
anagnorisis 'recognition' or 'realisation', moment truth is known
peripeteia 'turn around' or reversal of fortune. In tragedy = fall from high to low estate. {there are other possibilities}
A is about underlying themes and moral purposes of stories, deep content => inner events
Vladimir Propp
The Morphology of the Folktale
structures and plot formulations
all tales constructed from 31 functions, possible actions
1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home
2. An interdiction [that is, a prohibition] is addressed to the hero
3. The interdiction is violated
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance
5. The villain receives information about his victim
6. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings
7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy
8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of a family
OR 8a. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something
9. Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched
10. The seeker [that is, the hero in 'questor' mode] agrees to or decides upon counteraction
11. The hero leaves home
12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, which perpares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor
14. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent [that is, an object, and animal, etc]
15. The hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search
16. The hero and the villain join in direct combat
17. The hero is branded
18. The villain is defeated
19. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated
20. The hero returns
21. The hero is pursued
22. Rescue of the hero from pursuit
23. The hero, unrecognised, arrives home or in another country
24. A false hero presents unfounded claims
25. A difficult task is proposed to the hero
26. The task is resolved
27. The hero is recognised
28. The false hero or villain is exposed
29. The false hero is given a new appearance
30. The villain is punished
31. The hero is married and ascends the throne
They must happen in this order, but they don't have to all happen.
So you could get 1,5,7,9 but not 1,3,2,4.
No tale (according to Propp) has all 31, they select from the list.
Different dishes cooked from the same range of ingredients.
More superficial level, surface events.
[Barry, p227-228]
{That list looks a bit dodgy to me. I mean, some items look like more than one item, and there's a sneaky 'or' in the middle. So calling it 31 things don't seem quite right. except other things seem to be more or less one thing even listed as two - I mean how is deception and being decieved not the same plot point?}
{which is exactly what the text book points out too}
7 roles
1. villain
2. donor
3. helper
4. princess (a sought-for person) + father
5. dispatcher
6. hero
7. false hero
these 'spheres of action' are roles, but some call them characters
BUT - One character can play more than one role - e.g. villain may also be false hero.
{I want to read this a bit more - why bundle princess and parent?}
"Using the list of 31 functions and 7 spheres of action {roles}, we can generate the plot of any individual folk tale in the entire Russian corpus, just as, armed with
the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of English (the lanuge, in Saussure's terms)
we can generate
any possible utterance in English (the parole)."
"In realist fiction, the subordination of character to action is reversed, and roles cannot be simply demarcated as 'hero' and 'villain'. Henry James, the supreme psychological novelist, once said taht he wrote not about good and evil, but about 'good-and-evil'. Hence, in a Henry James story, a would-be helper may inadvertently be a hinderer, or may even be unsure which they 'truly' are."
archetypes - simple archetypes can provide the shadowy deep foundations of complex fictions - eg Cinderella archetype beneath Jane Eyre.
Gerard Genette
Narrative Discourse
{I have that one sitting waiting to be read. I've read 86 pages, which is up to the end of the bit explaining analepsis and prolepsis and stuff.}
Six basic questions {each with their own vocabulary}
1. Is the basic narrative mode 'mimetic' or 'diagetic'?
2. How is the narrative focalised?
3. Who is telling the story?
4. How is time handled in the story?
5. How is the story 'packaged'?
6. How are speech and thought represented?
1.
mimetic showing, dramatising. contains direct speech. slow. creating the illusion reader sees and hears.
diagetic telling, relating. summarising. rapid. panoramic. give information efficiently.
writers usually blend both modes.
2.
focalisation point of view, viewpoint, perspective.
3.
4.
analepsis flashback
prolepsis flashforward
ellipsis time gap
paralipsis data gap - telling a time but leaving out aspects, like if Jack mentioned a boyfriend but not a planet
5.
frame If the story starts by someone sitting around a campfire to tell a story, that is a frame. Other varieties exist. Its about if there's a story within a story.
6.
Handout ends with summary:
"Firstly, we have the crucial distinction between story and plot, which alerts us to questions of how the narrative is designed, and, indeed, what designs it may have upon us. Secondly, Aristotle's categories tune us to some of the deep-lying, psychic fundamentals of narrative: thirdly Propp's system provides data for considering some of the surface specifics of plots, and fourthly, Genette's material directs our attention to how the story is told, how it sets about achieving its designs."
All the numbered lists get a bit monotonous. I should start playing with colour to make them distinct or link them together as necessary. But that will be twiddly fun, I'll stick to the data part right now.
Note to self: Start day with chocolate, middle it with headache. This is known. Why do this again? :eyeroll:
(Am curing it with loud music and dancing. Well, it works at conventions...)
It is all dark with rain around here. I'm going to post just because I don't trust that 'autosaved' bit. There will be more.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 02:57 pm (UTC)primultimateness
This is far from finished, but I'm just so *tired*. I think I need go sleep some more.