Literary text analysis: narrative fiction [LANGB104]

Learning outcomes

Understand the structures and conventions of narrative texts (novel, short story, anecdote, etc.) and the basics of narratology. Begin to appreciate the complexity of the operation of literary interpretation. Discover the diversity (textual, chronological, cultural, geographical ...) of literary writing in English. Develop a taste for literature.

Objectives

See "Acquis".

Content

Starting from a collection of carefully selected excerpts and short stories, and moving back and forth between the texts and the theoretical notes, the course gradually builds up a model of narratological analysis, i.e. a method for the description and interpretation of narratives (stories, novels, etc..). This model integrates textual, intertextual, historical and cognitive dimensions.

Table of contents

Analysis of one novel (Dracula, by Bram Stoker) and of a wide range of narrative texts (short stories, book chapters, fragments...) including E. Blyton, the Bible, Cervantes, J. Conrad, D. Defoe, Ch. Dickens, J. Joyce, D. Keyes, D.H. Lawrence, The Lion King, K. Mansfield, C. Ozick, J. Thurber, S. Townsend, V. Woolf, H.G. Wells, etc. In the discussion and application of the descriptive model the following categories are introduced: actantial model, basic plots, character, characterization, cognition, dramatic irony, events and storylines, fictionality, focalization, forms of discourse representation, framing, humour, intertextuality, language and language variation, media, metafiction, mise en abyme, narration, narrativity, narratology, space, specific interpretation strategies in a given reading community, story vs. text, suspense, time (story level), time (text level), world knowledge.

Exercises description

A number of stories from the Reader are used as a basis for conversation exercises, aimed at helping the students both to develop their linguistic and communicative skills and to arrive at an adequate understanding of the stories.