【正文】 appear t o the r eader. By t he degr ee of their devel opm ent , charact ers can be grouped as round charact ers and f l at charact ers. Thi s di vi si on is pr oposed by For st er. Round charact ers ar e full y devel oped whi l e fl at charact ers ar e not . Or we can say t hat round charact ers gr ow whi l e fl at charact ers do not. Usual y t he reader i s al l owed access t o t he i nner l if e of the r ound char acter and per mi t ed to l ear n about m any si des of t he round charact er. The fl at character i s a ―cl osed‖ char act er t o whose i nner t houghts t he r eader i s deni ed access. Usual l y one si de of t he fl at character is shown i n t he novel . Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow em oti onal l y or spir it ual ly. Chapt er Three Theme Ari st ot l e in Poeti cs li st s si x basi c elements of t ragedy. Mel ody ( song) and dicti on (l anguage) f al i n the gener al cat egor y of st yl e, and spect acl e is r elevant t o set ti ng in our discussi on of f icti on. The ot her t hree aspects ar e m yt hos or plot, et hos or char act er , and di anoi a, whi ch we gener al y tr ansl at e i nt o ―thought ‖ i n Engl ish. Accor di ng t o Ari st otl e, pl ot i s t he ―soul ‖ or shapi ng pr i nci pl e or fi ct i on, and char act er s exi st pr im ar il y as f uncti ons of t he pl ot. I n most of t he st ori es, pl ot plays t he r ole of pri nci pal st ructur e of t he stor y. But, as Nor thr op Frye point s out , besides t he i nt er nal fi ct i on of t he char act er and hi s/ her soci et y, t here i s an ext ernal fi ct i on consi st i ng of a r elati on bet ween t he wri ter and the wr it er‘ s soci et y. We indeed have li t er ary wor ks by t he l i kes of Shakespear e and Hom er i n whi ch ar ti st r y is pl et el y absor bed i n t hei r inter nal char act ers and we can hardl y per cei ve the exist ence of the author. However, as soon as t he aut hor ‘ s per sonali ty appear s on the hor izon, a relati on wi th t he reader i s est abl ished, and sometim es there seem s no story at al apart f rom what he aut hor is conveying t o his/ her r eader. I n thi s case, t he pri mary i nterest in di anoi a, t he idea or thought t hat r eader get s fr om t he 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。 and how soci al concer n i s involved in a specif ic f orm of human imagi nat ion. In addit ion, st udent s should el evate to t he level of cult ivati ng a curi osit y f or the unknown, thi nki ng cogentl y and logi cal ly, expressing t hemselves clearl y and concisely, and observing t he wor ld ar ound t hem cri ti cal ly and objecti vel y. But most st udent s ar e sti l at a loss as t o how they can ef ect ively analyze a li ter ar y wor k by t hemselves in any of t hese r espect s, even though they have read ple nty of excerpts f r om r epr esentati ve works i n the Br i ti sh and Am er ican l it er ary canon. And t hey tend to have l it tl e idea what role the begi nning part plays in the whol e st ory, how the pl ot develops and es t o r esolut ion, in what way point of view deter mines a r eader‘ s under st andi ng of the stor y, and how t he images and symbol s ar e r el ated t o the t heme. Upon consi der ati on of t hese f act ors, we have such cour se wit h t he intenti on of cul ti vat ing both st udent s‘ li ter ar y sensi bi li ti es and t hei r /your cr i tical power when r eadi ng Engl ish short stor ies and novels. I. Introduct ion about readi ng a story 1. What is St or y? ―Yes –oh, dear , yes—t he novel tel s a stor y. ‖ This i s Forster ‘s r emar k, which i s wort h special at ent ion, for he i s someone in the t rade and wit h r ich exper ience. I n his Aspect s of the Novel he list s ―st or y‖ as the f ir st aspect. People r eadi ng novels f or st ori es usualy ask quest ions l ike ―what happened next ?‖ and ―and‖ what woul d he do next?‖ These quest ions at est to the t wo basi c elements of a stor y. The one i s the event and the ot her t he ti me. A st ory is a seri es of happeni ngs ar ranged in t he nat ural temporal order as they occur . St ory is t he basis of t he novel, and indeed the basi s of nar rat ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str ucture and f unct ions of a stor y Plot。 point of view。 style 3. What i s Ficti on? Ficti on, t he general ter m f or invented stori es, now usual ly appl ied to novels, shor t st ori es, novel a, romances, fables, and ot her nar ati ve works i n prose, e ven 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 No vel 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 newspapers 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 i