Wicked: what's a novel?

Constance963 · Intern Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 153 Gender:

Maybe the way we are taught is a cultural difference. Based on the other American's posting you referenced it sounds like that may just be what American teachers ask about a book. I've been out of college for about 7 years or so now and I have already forgotten quite a bit, sadly - math being the majority of my forgetting, or maybe selective forgetting Laughing

I have kept a lot of my notes from my classes so out of curiosity I want to take a look through the ones from my literature classes and see some of the questions I jotted down. I specifically remember a lot of direct references to real life in relation to Puritan writings like the Scarlet Letter. I had to read that book 3 or 4 times in school so that one stands out in particular.

I remember being asked what certain themes are in a book and relating characters and events back to those themes, who the antagonist and protagonist were, and what ideas the author might be trying to get across in the novel.

Ophelia · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:32 am Post subject:

Ophelia · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:25 am Post subject:

Fiction* http://www.criticalreading.com/fiction.htm

[* Here is one difference perhaps: the word “fiction” exists in French but we did not use it.
We talked about “literature” and “novels”.

- Booktalk divides reading into fiction and non-fiction (useful distinction).
I suppose bookshops may use that distinction too?

In France the one big bookshop , FNAC, goes into subcategories immediately, such as: French literature, foreign literature, history...

- Is “fiction” more a word of the English language?
- Is it a term which is used recently to include recreational reading (and now we sometimes hear of “literary fiction”) ? ]

Fiction: The Story And The Moral
Fiction is subjective and evocative. It is "made up," and indirect in its communication.*

[* This is perhaps what had attracted my attention in Wicked: did Maguire perhaps give those quotations in too direct a way, that could be then then taken straight out of the novel and discussed in the real world without the context of the novel?
I only checked one example, about hot anger and cold anger, and, no, author not guilty there (!), it had been brought about very naturally in the flow of the dialogue.]

A work of fiction may evoke:
• the thrill of imagining impossible or unavailable experiences
• intrigue with playing out "what if" or" if only" scenarios
• feelings and perceptions of another historical period, or simply observations on the human condition

We thus read fiction not to gain new information so much as to experience the ideas and feelings a story inspires within us.

Readers have different expectations from fiction and nonfiction. Proof is a major issue with nonfiction; emotional involvement is a major issue with fiction.* We expect a story (fiction) to grab us, an essay (nonfiction) to convince us. We will suspend belief when reading a romance novel or science fiction, but demand reason and evidence from nonfiction.
[* True in this context, but I think my professors, if asked, might have said that emotional involvement was associated with poetry, and we probably conducted lit class a little like philosophy classes).

Fiction is, by definition, subjective. A novel, story, drama, or poem is the expression of an author's imagination. The characters and situations are "made up." Readers expect fiction to reflect the real world; they do not expect it to portray the real world.*

[* Could there be something in this?]

.
Fiction is Evocative: Images and Symbols
Fiction conveys meaning indirectly (other than, of course, through morals at the ends of fables*).

[ * Here we have a problem. I’m thinking of novels (whereas the author writes about fiction, and precisely novels would be be very different from fables, maxims, etc..]

With fiction, the meaning is dependant on the perceptions, imagination, and feelings of the reader. In both cases, however, we demand that an interpretation be based on evidence on the page. And in both cases, part of understanding is understanding one's own interests, values, and desires and how they affect what one looks for and how one thinks about what one finds.

Analyzing and Interpreting Fiction: Perspectives

Of the three elements exemined here (content, language, and structure), language is the least important, *although hardly insignificant, element of a story.

[* The writer is very assertive here.
That’s not the impression I got from my student days.

For now, I don’t feel a need to choose between the three, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some literary critics had been at each other’s throats for decades about this.
My professors seemed to think “characters” were suspicious, and I read something by a famous author (was it Somerset Maugham?) saying that “plot” should be done away with!]

Language plays a role predominantly in terms of the use of symbolism and projecting an overall tone. We might think of this as part of the mental setting in which the action takes place. Analyzing The Scarlet Letter, we might note how language is used to indicate the lightness of the scene of Hester and her daughter Pearl in contrast to the darkness of the scene in which Hester confronts Reverend Dimmesdale. Language also can play a major role in terms of accents or dialects, as in Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

Ophelia · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: Showing, not telling.

I often remark I find Wicked strange.

For example, after introducing Gawnette's children, we expected to read more about Elphaba's childhood, but the author decided to take us straight to university.

It seems we might have some flashbacks at the end of the book.

And here is an example of writing that amuses me:

p 371: Nanny: Do you remember that pair of shoes that Frex had decorated for her (Nasserose)?
"The beautiful shoes! Her father's sign of devotion to his second daughter, his desire to accentuate her beauty and draw attention away from he deformity."

So, how is this for introducing the theme of the shoes and kindly giving us the key to everything within in the next sentence? Smile


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