1、英语短篇小说教程英语短篇小说教程Short Stories in English:A Reading Course虞建华 编写Unit OneIntroduction:The Short StoryReading:“Early Autumn”by Langston Hughes Comment on the following statement:Do you agree to this opinion?“Autobiography is fiction,for in the process of writing the author will have inevitably created
2、a fictitious character.”Comment on the following statement:Israel Zangwill,an English writer,says something about the“truth”of fiction.Do you agree to this opinion?“In Literature,everything is true except names and places;in history nothing is true except names and places.”The Random House Dictionar
3、y definition of the word“fiction”:The class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration,esp.in prose form.The four main categories of literature:lfiction:novel,novella,short stories,myth,legend folktalelpoetry:ballad,epic,free verse,psalm,sonnet ldrama:play,opera,radio/TV/film scriptslpr
4、ose:essay,criticism,literary theory,(auto)biographySylvan Barnet:A Short Guide to Writing about Literature Perhaps the first thing to say is that it is impossible to define literature in a way that will satisfy everyone.And perhaps the second thing to say is that in the last 20 years or so,some seri
5、ous thinkers have argued that it is impossible to set off certain verbal works from all others,and on some basis or other to designate them as literature.It is an honorific word,or a body of work embodying eternal truth and eternal beauty.John M.Ellis:The Theory of Literary Criticism The word litera
6、ture is something like the word weed.A weed is just a plant that gardeners for one reason or another dont want in the garden,but no plant has characteristics that clearly make it weed and not merely a plant.Robert Frost and Ezra Pound:lRobert Frost:Literature is“a performance of words.”lEzra Pound:L
7、iterature is“news that stays news.”Essential differences between fiction and non-fictional writings:lThe former has two levels of understanding,the narrative level and the authorial level,or the surface level and the deep level of understanding;lThe former allows different interpretations;lThe forme
8、r requires imaginative participation on the part of the reader;lIn the former,the authors voice is generally disguised,speaking through a persona.Discussion:Is it literature?The old dog barks backward without getting up.I can still remember when he was a pup.Robert Frost:“The Span of Life”Discussion
9、:Is it literature?坟是白馒头，井像黑窟窿，黄狗身上白，白狗身上肿。Discussion:Is it literature?Thirty days hath September,April,June and November;All the rest have thirty-one,Excepting February alone Which has twenty-eight in fine,Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.Reading and Textual Analysis Langston Hughes:“Early Autumn
10、”Questions 1.Even though we call it a“short story,”is there much“story”in the usual sense of the word?Is“story”an inevitable part?3.Is there a clear message?What is Marys problem?4.How does the story touch the reader if it is a touching one?5.What part does the setting play in the story?Henry James:
11、lThe best fiction would not rely primarily upon plot,instead,would derive its impact from truth of detail.Jack London:l(Good literature)transcends the limits of particularity to reach universality.Isarael Zangwill:lArt deals with essences,not with accidents.Chekhov:It is not the business of a writer to answer the great questions but to state the questions correctly.
