EN119 Study Guide - Metafiction, Postcolonial Literature, Anansi
Document Summary
Modernist authors sought to break away from traditions and conventions through experimentation with new literary forms, devices and styles. Their work re ected the pervasive sense of loss, disillusionment and even despair in the wake of the great war, hence their emphasis on historical discontinuity and the alienation of humanity . The thoughts and feelings of characters are portrayed without the use of quotations. Epistolary fiction: a novel whose plot is entirely developed through letters, whether through an exchange of letters between multiple characters or through the correspondence of only one character. Novella: a term commonly applied to lengthy, descriptive, psychologically nuanced stories. Longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Metafiction: fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. Colonialism: the subjection of one population to another. It can involve physical, political, economic and cultural domination.