ENGL 91C Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Dracula, Station Eleven, Speculative Fiction
ENGL 91C
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
What is fiction? "A story or setting created from the imagination, and not presented as fast. A cultural
product that comes in many forms and genres. An artwork produced through the creator's conscious
manipulation of story elements. A source of entertainment."
There are many different forms of fiction - film, TV, plays, video games, podcast/radio, poetry, short
stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, flash fiction.
Genres: literary fiction, realist fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror/thriller,
mystery/detective/noir, erotica/pornography, historical fiction, western. Definition of genre: a type of
literary or artistic production, usually determined by the content, style, and subject matter of a work.
Elements of fiction: character, plot, narrative voice/point of view, setting/worldbuilding,
theme/motif/symbol, style. "Fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude" - James Wood. Characters are an
absolute requirement for fiction.
Characterization:
indirect/implicit vs. direct/explicit.
flat vs. round (Forster's definitions).
static vs. dynamic - static stays the same through the whole story, dynamic characters transform over
the course of the story.
Character types/conventions:
protagonist, anti-hero, antagonist, foil, stock character.
The novel emerged in early 18th century with Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding.
Related to rise of Enlightenment empiricism:
Individuality of experience -> original plots.
Rejection of abstract universals -> attention to particulars, realistic depictions of time and space.
Authenticity -> clear, descriptive prose.
Persuasion:
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Written in 1815, published posthumously in 1817.
Connections to the Romantic Movement - a British literary and artistic tradition that upheld individual
freedom, prioritized strong emotions (such as terror and the sublime) over reason, and looked to nature
for artistic inspiration.
Example of realism - a genre of fiction that seeks to depict life as it is by representing plausible
characters, plots, and settings.
Themes in Jane Austen's Persuasion:
Class and status - an older hereditary aristocracy (Sir Walter) at odds with a rising middle class (the
Crofts, Captain Wentworth).
Loss and return: nostalgia for a bygone nobility; the desire to right past wrongs.
The nature and capacity of women - "fine ladies" or "rational creatures"?
"Good" character - balance between spontaneous emotion (sensibility) and socially appropriate, well-
mannered behavior.
Bottom of p.174 - political/radical/feminist bent of novel.
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