【正文】 nd an end. 3. The dramat ic si tuat ion in a story. 4. The thr e par ts of a plot: a beginning (exposi tion), amiddle (suspense or a seri es of suspense … .f or eshadowi ng… cr isis –a moment of hi gh t ension) , and an end( a cl imax, the moment of great est ension… the conclusion—fal ing action, r esolution or denouement) . Plot a beginni ng a middle an end exposi tion some other event s cli max ( the moment ( suspense, a ser ies of suspense, of great est ensi on, foreshadowing, cri si s) the concl usion fal ing acti on, resoluti on or denouement) II. Read the stori es of ?Rip Van Wi nkl e‘ (Washington Ir vi ng) and ?David Swan‘ (Nathani el Hawt hor ne) II. Questi ons : ( Fi ni sh r eading the two st ories and poi nt out t he plots of the t wo st or ies, the descr ipti ve det ai ls, t he exposi tion, char acters) Rip Van Wi nkl e 1. Descr ipti ve detai ls: t he plot of t he story? 2. What part of t he story sems li ke the exposi tion? 3. Where does t he dramat ic conf lict? 4. What i s the cl imax of the st or y? David Swan 5. the pl ot of the stor y? 6. How ful ly does the aut hor dr aw the charact er s i n the st or y? ( Character t raits are t he qual it es of a char acter‘ s personali ty. They are r evealed through a char acter‘ s acti ons and words and through descript ion) . 7. More works t o do: something about the wri ters of the t wo st or ies. Chapt er Two Character In the intr oduct ion we have said that f icti on i s an image of people in action, moving towar ds an undeclared end. Thus char acter is always invol ved in f icti on, even i n the st or y of t he simplest a ct ion. Someti mes character i s at the center of our interest because in character we may see many f acet s of t he people we meet in our daily l ife and even of our selves. Fi ct ional charact er is always char acter i n acti on and the char acter gets i nt o acti on because it is caught in a sit uati on of confli ct and he/she i s always pr ovided wi th moti vati on: he/she has suff icient reasons t o act or behave as he /she does. The character i s doing something and the reader whi le readi ng f iction want s to know t he ―why‖ as wel as t he ―what ‖ of the afair s. (Sometimes a charact er ‘s motive for an action is not explained on accept able grounds, f or example, t he vil lain in Adgar Al an Poe‘ st or y ―The Tel Tal e Heart ,‖ and t hus the reader f els cheated. In t hi s case, t he wr iter of det ecti ve f iction who makes t he cri minal a mere l unat ic has cheated the reader by avoiding the probl em of moti ve.) And general y, the act ion itsel f is humanl y si gnif icant and it ends usual ly in a shift in or cl ar if icat ion of human val ues, as di splayed in John Updike‘ s ―A amp。 and how social concer n is invol ved in a specif ic form of human i magination. I n additi on, st udent s hould elevat e t o the level of cul ti vati ng a cur iosi ty f or the unknown, thinki ng cogently and logi cal y, expresing themselves clear ly and concisel y, and observing the wor ld around t hem cri ticaly and objectively. But most students are st il l at a loss as t o how t hey can ef ecti vely analyze a lit er ar y wor k by t hemsel ves in any of these respect s, even though they have r ead plent y of excer pts fr om repr esent at ive wor ks i n t he Br it sh and Amer ican li terary canon. And they t end to have l it le idea what r ole the beginni ng part plays in t he whole st or y, how the pl ot develops and es t o resoluti on, in what way point of view det er mines a reader‘ s under st anding of the st ory, and how the images and symbols are r el at ed t o the t heme. Upon consi derati on of these fact or s, we have such cour se wi th the intention of cult ivat ing both students‘ l iterar y sensibil it es and t heir / your cri ti cal power when r eading Engli sh short stories and novels. II. Int roducti on about reading a st ory 1. What is Story? ―Yes –oh, dear, yes—the novel tel s a stor y.‖ This is Forster‘s r emark, whi ch i s wor th speci al atention, f or he is someone i n the trade and with r ich exper ience. I n hi s Aspects of the Novel he li st ―st or y‖ as the fi rst aspect . People r eading novel s f or stori es usualy ask questi ons li ke ―what happened next?‖ and ―and‖ what would he do next ?‖ These quest ions atest o the two basic elements of a story. The one i s the event and the other the ti me. A story i s a series of happenings ar ranged in the nat ur al tempor al order as they occur. Story is t he basis of the novel , and indeed t he basi s of nar rative works of al ki nds. 2. The str uct ur e and f unctions of a st or y Plot。 how wri ters, t hr ough thei r creative impulses, convey to us t heir i nsights into human desti ny and human lif e。 style 3. What is Fict ion? Fi ct ion, the gener al t er m for invented st or ies, now usual y applied to novels, shor t stori es, novel la, r omances, fables, and other nar rati ve works in prose, even though most pl ays and nar rative poems ar e al so f ictional . ( P. 83. Concise Dictionar y of Lit er ar y Ter ms) 4. The St or y and t he Novel To r ead novels for st or y is not hi ng wr ong, but nothing profesional ei ther . ―One mar k of a secondr at e mi nd is to be al ways teli ng stor ies.‖ The remar k by t he Fr ench wr it er jean de La Bruyer e ( 1645~1696) is also t rue of t he r eader. I f t he purpose of t he novel is onl y to tel st ories, it c ould as wel l remai n unbor n, for newspaper s and hi st or y books are suf fi ci ent to sati sf y peopl e‘ s desi re f or st ories about bot h pr esent and past, and even about f uture. I n fact , many newapaper men have been disatisfi ed wi th their job of r eporti ng and e into t he f ield of novel wri ting. Defoe, Di ckens, Joyce, Hemingway and Camus were among the most famous and t he most s