World Literature for 11.27.07

Tomorrow we will be looking at how we understand fiction. Fiction is a story that begins or originates in the imagination of the author rather than a set of facts that paint out history. Much of what we will be reading will be considered fiction even though it may use history as the beginning of the story.

We will be talking about the "plot" of a typical story. We will discuss the following terms in detail:

• conflict
• protaganist
• antagonist
• exposition
• crisis
• climax
• resolution
• deus ex machina
• in medias res
• flashback
• foreshadowing

We will be reading a story written by Kate Chopin (1851-1904). She was a writer who used Louisiana as the setting for many of her stories. The most famous were Bayou Folk and A Night in Arcadie. Chopin was one of the first feminists writing from that point of view. She created honest, sexually frank stories that surprised people who lived during that time. These stories were rediscovered in the 1960's and 70's. The story that you will be reading tomorrow will be entitled The Story of an Hour, written in 1894.

You can find The Story of an Hour here


The second story we will examine tomorrow is by Naguib Mahfouz. He was born in 1911 and I have no proof that he is dead, although he would have to be mighty old. He is one of the foremost writers of the modern Arabic world. He was born, raised, and lived most of his life in Egypt. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. The story that we have here is entitled Half a Day, written originally in Arabic. We will talk about a parallel story written by an American author back in the early 1800's by the name of Washington Irving. Notes will be taken in class tomorrow about the literary terms that proceed these two stories. Everyone will take notes in our usual style, and will finish with a short essay describing a self-reaction to the two stories read. If you are not here tomorrow, you will have one week to create the intended material. The two stories are here online, and any good dictionary will give you definitions to the terms.

Read Half a Day here


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REMINDERS (there are always reminders, and I usually forget to remind you of those things that you should remember- that's why we all get along so well):

• for those of you who work, you need to bring in a copy of your payroll stub- you need it for your work credit.
  
• for those of you who still haven't had your CLP signed by a parent, please have it done. We have given some of you five or even six forms that have somehow disappeared. Good luck!
• you need 75% attendance. Yep! You need to suffer at least 75% of the days that we are in session. Well, you could be back at traditional school five days a week. How does that grab you?

{p.s. You are cordially invited to include any comments about the prose and the independent study requirement. May CERTAIN that all of your comments are positive, thumb-suckingly clean, and will build you tall and magestic in the eyes of the teaching staff!!!}

Terry & JP