Week 2. Fiction

• Fiction is an imaginative literary narrative that can be divided into several types
• Prose (n) văn xuôi
• Narrative (n) chuyện kể
• >= 10,000 words: Novel
• <= 10,000 words: Novella
• <= 5000 words: Short story
• Story: any experience in daily life, usual or unusual, is a story, but not a short story
• Story = raw, untreated experience of life
• A short story, in literary form, requires some treatment to give it shape
• A short story = fictionalized experiences of life
• Short story: 

  • Plot
  • Character
  • Setting
  • Tone, Theme
  • Point of view
• The person who tells the story is also a character in the story => homodiegetic narrator (1st person)
• 1st person's point of view

  • general
  • autodiegetic
  • unreliable
• The person who tells the story is not a character in the story => heterodiegetic narrator (3rd person)
• 3rd person

  • 3rd person limited (centered)
  • 3rd person unlimited (omniscient)
  • 3rd person objective (dramatic)
• SECOND-PERSON NARRATION

  • little-used technique of narrative
  • action is driven by a character ascribed (điều khiển bởi) to the reader, one known as you. The narrator describes what "you" do and lets you into your own thoughts and background.

  Ex: Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City
• FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW - GENERAL

  • "I"
  • Narrator là một nhân vật trong truyện nhưng không phải nhân vật chính
  • limited in the narrator's view of the narrative world => realism & credibility (not always)
• FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW - AUTODIEGETIC

  • "I"
  • narrator = protagonist (main character)
•  FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW - UNRELIABLE

  • tell lies or omit crucial information

  E.g. The murder of roger ackroyd by Agatha Christine; Gone girl (Nick)
• THIRD PERSON LIMITED 

  • "he, she, they, him, her, them"
  • narrator telling the story from outside the world of the characters
  • narrator telling readers the thoughts, opinions, motives, and inner feelings of ONE character in the story, usu. protagonist
• THIRD PERSON UNLIMITED (OMNISCIENT)

  • The narrator knows everything about everyone in every situation and feels free to reveal this information to the reader. (Kể lể)
• THIRD PERSON OBJECTIVE (DRAMATIC)

  • narrator = camera (little or no comment & explanation) (chỉ diễn tả bề ngoài chứ không đưa ra cụ thể cảm xúc của nhân vật)

  => impersonal objectivity (mục tiêu khách quan)

  => The reader will make their own prediction

  (Viết loại này phải biết tiết chế, thêm inner thoughts thành third person unlimited (omniscient))