【正文】 t hat is, something wit h a beginni ng, a middl e, and an end. 3. The dramat ic situation in a story. 4. The t hr e parts of a pl ot : a begi nning (exposit on), a middle ( suspense or a ser ies of suspense … . foreshadowing… cri si s –a moment of high tension), and an end(a climax, t he moment of gr eatest tension… the conclusi on—f al ling act ion, resol ut ion or denouement ). Pl ot a beginning a mi ddle an end exposit on some other events cl imax (t he moment (suspense, a seri es of suspense, of greatest tension, f or eshadowing, crisis) t he conclusi onf al li ng act ion, r esol ut ion or denouement ) I. Read the st ories of ?Rip Van Winkle‘( Washi ngt on I rving) and ?Davi d Swan‘ ( Nat haniel Hawthorne) II. Quest ions : (Finish reading t he two stori es and point out the pl ot s of the two stori es, t he descri pt ive detail s, the exposit ion, charact er s) Rip Van Winkle 1. Descri pt ive detail s: the plot of the st or y? 2. What par t of the st or y seems l ike the exposit on? 3. Where does the dr amati c confli ct ? 4. What is the climax of t he story? Davi d Swan 5. t he plot of the story? 6. How fully does t he aut hor draw the char act er s in the story? (Char acter trait s ar e the qual it ies of acharact er ‘s per sonali ty. They ar e r eveal ed t hr ough a charact er ‘s acti ons and words and thr ough descri pt ion). 7. More works to do: something about t he wr iter s of the two stories. Chapt er Two Character In t he i nt roduction we have said t hat fi cti on is an i mage of people i n acti on, moving towards an undecl ar ed end. Thus charact er is always i nvolved i n fi ct ion, even in the story of the simplest act ion. Somet imes char acter is at t he center of our i nt er est because in char acter we may se many facets of t he people we meet in our dail y lif e and even of oursel ves. Fictional character i s always char acter in act ion and the charact er get s into act ion because i t i s caught i n a si tuat ion of confl ict and he/she i s al ways pr ovi ded with mot ivat ion: he/ she has suff icient r easons to act or behave as he / she does. The char acter is doing something and t he r eader while r eading ficti on wants to know t he ―why‖ as wel l as the ―what‖ of t he af ai rs. ( Someti mes a charact er ‘s moti ve f or an acti on i s not expl ai ned on accept able gr ounds, f or example, t he vil lain i n Adgar Al an Poe‘ st or y ―The Tel Tale Heart ,‖ and t hus the reader f eels cheated. I n this case, the writ er of detect ive fi ct ion who makes the crimi nal a mer e lunati c has cheat ed t he r eader by avoi di ng t he pr oblem of mot ive. ) And generaly, the action it self is humanly signifi cant and it ends usual y in a shif t in or clari fi cati on of human values, as displ ayed in John Updike‘s ―A amp。 a nd 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 themsel 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 the Br it ish and Amer ican l iterary canon. And they t end to have l it le idea what role the beginning part plays i n the whole story, how the plot develops and es t o resoluti on, in what way point of view det er mines a r eader ‘s under st anding of the story, and how t he i mages and symbols are r el at ed t o the theme. Upon consi derati on of these fact ors, we have such course wi th t he i nt enti on of cult ivat ing both students‘ l it er ar y sensibil it es and thei r / your cr it cal power when r eading Engli sh short stori es and novels. II. Int roduct ion about reading a st ory 1. What is Story? ―Yes –oh, dear, yes—the novel t el ls a st or y. ‖ This i s Forster‘ s r emar k, which is wor th special at enti on, for he is someone i n the trade and wit h rich experience. I n his Aspects of the Novel he li st s ―st ory‖ as the fi rst aspect . People r eading novel s for stori es usualy ask questi ons li ke ―what happened next ?‖ and ―and‖ what would he do next ?‖ These questi ons atest t 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 ser ies of happenings ar ranged in the natur al tempor al order as they occur. St or y is t he basis of the novel, and i ndeed t he basi of nar at ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str uctur e and functi ons of a story Plot 。 how writ er s, t hr ough thei r cr eati ve im pulses, convey t o us t heir i nsight s into hum an desti ny and hum an l if e。 st yl e 3. What i s Fi cti on? Ficti on, the gener al term for invent ed st ori es, now usual y appl ied to novels, shor t stori es, novel a, r omances, fables, and other nar rati ve works in prose, even though m ost pl ays and nar rati ve poems ar e al so f icti onal . ( P. 83. Concise Dicti onar y of Lit er ary Term s) 4. The St ory and t he Novel To read novels f or st or y is not hi ng wrong, but not hi ng prof essi onal eit her. ―One m ar k of a secondr at e mind is t o be al ways t el ing st or ies. ‖ The r emark by the French wri ter j ean de La Br uyere ( 1645~1696) i s also tr ue of the reader. If t he pur pose of t he novel i s only t o t el l st or ies, it could as wel r emain unbor n, for newspapers and hi st or y books ar e suf fi ci ent to sati sf y peopl e‘ s desi re f or stori es about both present and past , and even about futur e. In f act, m any newapaperm en have been dissati sf ied wit h t heir j ob of report ing and e i nt o the fi el d of novel wr it ng.