【正文】 ti ve works i n prose, even though most pl ays and nar ati ve poems ar e also fi cti onal. ( P. 83. Conci se Dict ionar y of Lit erar y Ter ms) 4. The St ory and t he Novel To r ead novels f or st ory is nothi ng wrong, but nothi ng prof essional eit her. ―One mark of a second rate mind i s to be al ways tel ing st or ies.‖ The r emark by the French wr it er j ean de La Bruyere (1645~1696) is also t rue of t he reader . I f the pur pose of the novel is only t o t el l st ori es, it could as wel l r emain unborn, f or newspape rs and hi st or y books ar e suf fi ci ent t o sat isf y peopl e‘ s desi re f or st ori es about bot h present and past , and even about fut ure. In fact, many newapapermen have been di ssati sfi ed wit h their j ob of report ing and e i nt o t he fi el d of novel wr it ing. Defoe, Di ckens, Joyce, Hem ingway and Camus were am ong t he most famous and the most successful conver ts. Even hi st ori ans m ay feel obl iged to do more than mere st or i es or f act s. Edward Gibborn‘ s Decl ine and Fal of the Rom an Empir e is pr aised not only for i ts mul ti tudinous facts and r at ionali st ic analysis, but mor e f or i ts beaut y of nar at ive styl e. In t eli ng stories, the novelist aim s at som et hing hi gher or he i ntends t o add som ethi ng to t he m ere “f act s. ” As i ndi cat ed i n the def ini ti on of the novel, what makes a novel i s the noveli st ?s st yl e ( personal ized presentat ion of t he st ory) and i nterpret ati on of the story. Chapt er One Plot I. What is Pl ot? 1. Accor ding t o Ar istotl e what ar e t he si x elements of t he st ructur e of tr agedy? Tragedy as a whol e has just si x consti t uent el em ent s… and they are pl ot, charact ers, verbal expression, thought, visual adornment , and song—posit ion. For the elements by whi ch they i mit ate ar e two (verbal expr ession and song—posi ti on) , the manner i n whi ch they im it at e is one ( visual adornment) , the t hings they im it at e are three ( plot, characters , thought ), and t her e is not hi ng mor e beyond t hese. 2. What is Pl ot under the pens of m oder n novel ists and stor yt el er s? And how t o under st and ―Pl ot ‖ i n a story? (―‖ppt : ?The queen died, no one knew why, unti l i t was discovered t hat i t was thr ough gr ief at he deat h of the king. ‘… P. 6 It suspends the t ime sequence, it moves as far away fr om t he st ory as i ts l im it at ions wi l al ow. ) The story and t he char act er al one can not make a novel ye. To make a novel, 。 point of view。 P,‖ and t he moti vat ion of a char acter in a st ory—one of t he answers t o t he questi on ―why‖—is of f undamental impor tance. I. What is Character? Cl osely related wi t h the stor y i s the char act er. Henry James sai d, “What is character but the determinat ion of i nci dent ? What is i nci dent but t he il lustrati on of character?‖ (The Art of Ficti on‖) When we read a novel, we read about our fel low bei ngs, and that is one of the m otives i n reading at a l. The “fel low beings” in t he novel is t ermed character s. By “felow beings” is meant not only “human bei ngs” but also “other bei ngs,” such as ani mals. Gee Or wel uses ani mals t o repr esent human beings i n his novel Ani mal Farm. Lewi s Car r ol cr eates m any l ovel y animal s in hi s Ali ce’s Adventures in Wonderland that appeal to bot h chi ldr en and adult s. Or wel does not i ntend to convince t he r eader t hat animal s can speak human l anguage or that he i s a t ransl ator bet ween ani mals and humans. No sensible reader, after reading Orwel l‘s Ani mal Farm, woul d go to the pigsty to l ook for a t al king boar. This pr oves t he agr eed on fi cti onali ty of character s in novels. So br oadl y, a character i s an invented personali ty to resem ble but never to equal a real person i n l if e. I t i s not di f icult t o se that character s in novels r esemble people i n r eal li fe in m any ways. They have names used i n the same way our s ar e used, they have hat red and l ove, and they have desir es and f ear s. Above al l, they act he way we act or the way we can understand ( li ke or di sl ike). But we m ust bear i n mi nd that the characters ar e not r eal persons, but merel y inventions, however i ngeni ous. Com pare the physi cal l ife and spi ri tual li fe of the characters and ours. We have t o answer t he nat ure‘s cal sever al tim es a day, but character s seldom do thi s, even in t he most reali st ic or natural isti c novel s. We have t o l ive our li fe hour by hour and day by day, but 某某 1 萬(wàn)噸恒溫庫(kù)建設(shè)項(xiàng)目 可行性研究報(bào)告 2020年 11月 I nt r oduct i on I. Why do we have such course? Engl ish l it er atur e is one of the pulsory and m ost i mpor t ant cour ses. However , the Engli sh li terat ur e cour ses of fer ed ar e mer el y t aught at t he level of l ear ning gener al i nfor mati on and developing l it eral underst anding. Admi t edl y, such cour ses help t hem /you a l ot i n t hei r/ your acqui si ti on of the Engli sh language. But t he functi on of Engl ish li ter at ure r eaches far beyond t hat . In readi ng Engli sh l it eratur e, a st udent should have t he power t o discer n how human beings t ransl ate t hei r experi ence i nto ar tist ic expressi on and represent at ion。 character 。 st yl e 3. What is Fi ct i on? Fi ct i on, t he gener al term f or i nvent ed st ori es, now usual ly appli ed to novels, short st or i es, novel a, r om ances, fables, and ot her nar at i ve wor ks i n pr ose, even though m ost pl ays and nar at i ve poems ar e al so fi ct i onal. ( P. 83. Conci se Di cti onar y of Lit erar y Ter ms) 4. The St or y and t he Novel To read novel s for stor y is not hi ng wr ong, but not hi ng pr of esi onal ei t her. ―One m ar k of a secondr at e mi nd is t o be al ways t el li ng st ori es. ‖ The r em ar k by t