Literary Terms

Forms of Prose Fiction
Novel- a book-lenght fictional prose narrative.

Short story- a brief fictional narrative in pose.

Novellers- applied to a story somewhat longer than a short story, but not long enough to be considered a novel.
Elements of Prose fiction
Narrative techniques- the method invovled in telling a story. It also conveys desired effects.

Point of view- the relationship of the narrator or storyteller to the story.

Setting- the time and place in which the events of a story, novel or play occurs.

Theme- the central message of a story, poem, novel or play that readers can apply to life.

Style- the authors choice and arrangements of words and sentences in a literary work.

Characterization- the methods of which a writer use to reveal the personality of a character.

Literary Devices
Imagery- the word pictures that writers create to help evoke an emotional response.

Symbol- an object, person, place or experience that means more that what it is.

Irony- a contrast or discepancy between appearance and reality or between what is expected or what actually happens.

Allusion- a reference in a work of literature to a character, place or situation from history or from another work of literature, music or art.

Satire-writting that exposes and ridicule the vices or follies of people or societies.

Structual Devices
Stream of conciousness- individual conscious experience regarded as a continuous series of occurances rather as seperate disconnected events.

Interior Monologue- a narrative technique or passage which suggests a characters stream of consciousness.

Flashback- an account of an event that happened before a story began.

Foreshadowing- the use of clues by the author to prepare readers for events that will happen later in the story.

Time Frame- a given interval of time especially in relatiion to a particular event or process.

Motif- a significant word, decripton, idea or image that is repeated.

Juxtaposition- to put side by side or close together.

Types of Fiction

1. Fantasy- a story that can never happen; not realistic.
2. Humorous fiction- a funny story written to make you laugh.
3. Science fiction- is based on science and tells about supernatural events.
4. Mystery- a story about something that needs to be solved.
5. Traditional fiction- folk tales,fairy tales, myths and legends which are passed down orally throughout history.
6. Historical fiction- a story that seems real and took place in the past. It may include people or events from the past but some of the story came from the author's imagination.
7. Realistic fiction- a story which could have happened or seems real.
8. Animal fiction- these contain characters that are animals or plots where the animal is an intregal part of the story.

Literary Context
Social- of or having to do with human beings living together as a group in a situation in which their dealings with one another affect their common welfare.

Political- of or concerned with government, the statement or politics.

Historical- of or concerned with history as a science.

Religious- characterized by adherence to religion or a religion.

Ethnic- designating or of a population subgroup having a commom cultural heritage as distinguished by customs, characteristics, language and common history.

Moral- a practical lesson about right and wrong conduct.

Intellectual- the ability to reason and understand or to perceive relationships.

Cultural- the training and refinement of the intellect, interest, taste, skills and arts.