Literature: the use of letters(or writing)
literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.
By understanding language, you will:
- Have a fuller understanding of lives other than your own.
- Will help you be more empathetic
- Help you to avoid getting dumped by that young woman in the first place
- Reading critically and attentively can give you the linguistic tools to share your own story with more precision.
Literature:
- It saves you time
- It makes you nicer
- It’s a cure for loneliness
- It prepares you for faliure
Literature genres
- biography（传记，一生的记录）：A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person’s life.
- memoir(回忆录，短小片断): any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author’s personal memories.
- autobiography(自传): an account of a person’s life written by that person.
Freytag’s Pyramid
- exposition
- inciting incident
- rising action
- climax(exciting event)
- falling action
- resolution
- denouement
Character + Action = Plot
- Creating a character that wants something
- What are their weaknesses?
- Where are they from(biographical, emotionally)?
- Where are they going?
- What can characters do to suprise you?
The inciting incident, a character, the obstacle, the quest 激励事件、人物、障碍、探索
What is Structure?
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The beginning
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The middle
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The end
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A: action
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B: background
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D: development
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C: climax
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E: ending
What Is a Scene?
Scenes are the basic building blocks of a film. From classic blockbusters to indie flicks, the structure and purpose of each scene remain crucial in conveying a compelling and satisfying cinematic experience to the viewer.
Tone
Tone is the author’s attitude toward the topic.
- absurd: silly, ridiculous
- ambivalent: undecided, having mixed emotions, unsure
- amused: entertained, finding humor, expressed by a smile or laugh
- angry: enraged, very mad, incensed, threatening or menacing
- apathetic: lacking concern, showing little or no interest
- arrogant: haughty, acting with false superiority
- bitter: resentful, having strong animosity or rancor
- cheerful: jovial, happy, in good spirits
- comic: humorous, funny
- compassionate: sympathetic, having feeling for others, showing pity, empathy
- complex: complicated, having many varying characteristics
- condescending(表现出优越感；屈尊，俯就): patronizing, stooping to the level of one’s inferious
- critical: disapproving
- cruel: causing suffering, causing pain
- cynical: scornful of the motives or virtues of others, bitterly mocking 认为人皆自私的，愤世嫉俗的；
- depressed: dejected, sad, unhappy, troubled
- detached: uninvolved, having no interest or feelings
- distressed: upset
- gothic 哥特式
- earnest: sincere, showing deep feeling
- formal
- gentle
- hard: unfeeling, hard-hearted, unyielding
- incredulous: doubtful, disbelieving, skeptical
- indignant: angry, angered by something unjust, mean
- intense: deeply felt, concentrated
- intimate: personal, close, deeply associated
- ironic: wry, an unexpected opposite meaning in words or events(台下的观众都知道，台上的演员不知道)
- malicious: 恶意的 spiteful, desiring to harm others or to see or to suffer
- mocking: ridiculing, imitating
- nostalgic(思念家乡): yearning for the past, home sick, wistful
- objective: factual
- optimistic: positive, believing in positive outcomes
- outspoken: frank
- pathetic: pitiful, useless, wretched
- pessimistic: tending to take the worst possible view of a situation
- playful: fun-filled, full of good spirits
- black beauty
- reticent: reserved, restrained
- reverent: respectful, showing deep respect and esteem
- righteous: morally just, morally right, guiltless
- satiric:讽刺的；挖苦的 ridiculing or attacking by means of irony or caustic wit
- sentimental: emotional, showing special feeling forli
- serious: earnest, not funny
- tragic: disastrous, calamitous
- uneasy: lacking security, lacking comfort
- vindictive: revengeful, spiteful, bitter, unforgiving
- simile 明喻
- metaphor 暗喻
- figures of speech 修辞
- personification 拟人化
- onomatopoeia 拟声词
- decorum 端庄的
- hostile 敌对的
- hospitable 好客的，欢迎的
- He uses poetic language 诗一般的语言
- descriptive metaphors 描述性的隐喻
- critique v/n 评论，评论文章
- anti-modern 反现代
- to awe his readers 以敬畏他的读者
- genre 类型，风格
- romance poetry 浪漫诗歌
- epic 史诗
- lyric 抒情诗
- ode 颂歌
- prose 散文
- biography 传记
- autobiography 自传
- comparative literature 比较文学
- editorial 社论
- essay 小论文
- fiction 小说
- science fiction(注重故事和情节, story and plot)
- sci-fi 科幻小说(注重特效，电影, it focuses on exotic technology)
- folktale 民间传说 民间故事 (人物和故事都是编造的, pass by oral, purely imaginative)
- folk legend 民间传说（英雄人物真实的，故事可能是编造的, real history, real people）
- fairytale 童话
- anecdote 轶事
- fable 寓言
- satire 讽刺
- plot 情节
- denouement 结局
- rhetoric 修辞
- manual script
- parchment 羊皮纸
- cliche 陈词滥调/俗
- stereotype 刻板印象
- rhyme 押韵
- literature review 文献综述
- internal objective 内部目标
- stock character 固定角色
- refreshing topics 令人耳目一新的话题
- subversive 颠覆性的
- lesser genres 较小流派
- academia n. 学术界
- hyperbole 夸张（法）
- obliteration 闭塞；涂去，删除；消灭
- metaphor 暗喻
- torture 拷打，拷问
To inform:
- To analyze
- To clarify
- To discuss
- To establish
- To explain
- discursive 分析
To entertain:
- To amuse
- To delight
- To frighten
To persuade:
- To argue against
- To argue for
- To convince
- To criticize
- To inspire(motivate a change)
Literary genres(文学流派，文体或体裁)
西方传统文体分三大主流类型：
- 史诗(epic)，演变为叙述体和小说
- 抒情诗，即后来的诗歌
- 戏剧(drama)
Fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility.
Fiction is made up, you need to use your imagination when you are writing it. Types of fiction include plays, stories and poems. There are many different types of non-fiction writing, such as newspapers, adverts, brochures, reference books and biographies. A non-fiction book is about facts.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively based on historical, scientific, and empirical information.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any particular instance of poetry is called a poem and is written by a poet.
Drama(喜剧，表演，电影，歌剧)
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, as well as a work in this genre. Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama.
Mystery
Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime.
Epic 史诗
a film, poem, or book that is long and contains a lot of action, usually dealing with a historical subject:
Sci-fi vs science fiction
SCI fi, that’s what you tend to see in films. It has all the spaceships and robots, and it focuses on exotic technology you know factor like special effects，at the expense of a well written story. I think a lot of people don’t realize this and tend not to make a distinction.
true science fiction is much more intellectual than that. The story is very important, and even though it might take place in an imaginary world, it might have exotic gadgets. The focus is on the plot. Science fiction creates metaphors about our world.
Biography vs autobiography vs memior
| written by oneself | subjective | may be false | |
|---|---|---|---|
| biography | yes | ||
| autobiography | yes | yes | |
| memior | yes | yes | yes |
Structural Devices
- dialogue
- monologue
- aside
- Third-person narrative
- flashbacks 回溯
Romantic
And Hugo, like other Romantics, was also opposed to the artistic rules that the neoclassicists had inherited from the Enlightenment.
像其他浪漫主义者一样，雨果也反对新古典主义从启蒙运动继承的艺术准则。
The Romantics wanted a more passionate kind of theater and it was more rooted in the individual and the individual sensibility.
浪漫主义者要一种更加激情的戏剧，它更加扎根于个体和个体感觉。
There was an ideological struggle between a lot of young people, artists, people who wanted change, and, and people who didn’t.
很多年轻人，艺术家，想要改变的人，不想要改变的人，都有意识形态斗争，
neoclassical comedy 新古典主义戏剧
Enlightenment. 启蒙运动
Sentences
But Thoreau also critiques trains on what we could call philosophical grounds. 哲学层面
cause some friction between A and B 导致一些摩擦(争论，不和)
Articles
Children’s Literature
- social etiquette 社交礼仪
Combine lerning and pleasure, the books should have fun.
Books written to instruct children, delight, entertain chindren.
Locke: Children’s mind are blank, need to be filled, learning by experience.
Key to education is to combine learning and pleasuring.
Naturalistic Novel
Realist: real life of ordinary people, not idealized, not life of hero.
Naturalist: real life + real environment and development, not like a traditional play, which raise a problem, solve it, and had a happy ending. They reflect a view of life that is not always happy.
According to the professor, what was one of Zola’s goals in creating slice-of-life theater? C. To inform his audiences about social issues
Norwegian folktale(import part of Norway)
folk legends, they are somewhat realistic.
Folktales are imaginative stories that um, like folk legends, they’ve been passed down orally, from storyteller to storyteller, for, since ancient times.
There are, in general, three main types of Norwegian folktales.
1. Animal Stories
They can be wild animals or uh, domestic, and a lot of times they can talk and behave like humans, but at the same time they retain their animal characteristics too.
2. Supernatural story
- happy ending
- very conventional form, so no more than two characters are involved in any one scene.
3. Comical story
Folktales began to be regarded as an important aspect of Norwegian culture. They usually behave the way that real Norwegian people behave.