Transcript Lecture nineteen

“Reading the Novel”

Setting

Chronological
time
Novel time
Place
Objects
Environment
Ambience
Who is the narrator?
First person: Narrator as I
Third Person: he/she (Omniscient, limited
omniscient, intrusive, objective - recorder)
Stream of consciousness
Does the author ever intrude?
Reliable or unreliable
narrators
Should we believe what the narrator tells us?
What makes a narrator unreliable?
Plot

 Order of events: See Dramatic Structure
 Exposition (who, what, where, when)
 Conflict (problem)
 Climax (pivotal point in action)
 Resolution ( How it ends up)
Climax
Conflict
Resolution
Expo
Characters in novels have more
depth
How do we learn about them?
Dialogue
Physical actions
Thoughts or mental actions
Judgment by others
Narrator judgment
Author’s judgment
Theme versus Subject
Subject: general topic of the book
Ex: Marriage
Theme: what we should think about that topic
Ex: Marriage sometimes makes people unhappy
Symbolism + Irony
 Personal + cultural symbols
 Dramatic Irony
 Circumstantial Irony