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The Cambridge History of English Literature
The Cambridge History of English Literature
Essays on storytelling
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British playwright W. Somerset Maugham agrees that there are no set standards to writing, and it is up to the author to find which creative elements help them portray their idea in the way they find most effective. With authors Brian Doyle and Anne Carson, both take unconventional approaches to writing to create an effect unable to be explored with a classically styled narrative. In Joyas Voladoras, Doyle uses extended metaphors and seemingly randomly inserted facts to draw importance to certain parts of the essay. Meanwhile Carson uses perspective as a tool to find the meaning of her seemingly random short stories from Short Talks. In Anne Carson’s short story, Short Talks, she writes a collection of paragraphs or even sentences with significant …show more content…
In “On Waterproofing,” a story is told about Franz Kafka’s sister and her struggle in concentration during the Holocaust. Her husband suggested she waterproof her shoes so they wouldn’t get wet, yet with a sad irony her soon death could not be prevented. Here the dark metaphor of Nazi Germany as something that cannot be predicted is written. By not taking the story as truly literal, the reader can get the assumption of the aphorism “life cannot always be predicted.” Much like Carson in these manners, Doyle uses metaphors to enhance the meaning of his writing in Joyas Voladoras. Joyas Voladoras tells about how all animals have a certain amount of heartbeats that they live for, and once those end, their life is over. Doyle uses the extended metaphor of the heart throughout the story and eventually brought the story back to his personal issues. Without the reader knowing that Doyle’s son was born with a three chambered heart, they wouldn’t understand the meaning as much. Once again in this case, the narrator of the story is crucial to understanding how much “So much is held in a heart in a lifetime” (Doyle 148) means to …show more content…
Whatever perspective “On Gertrude Stein About 9:30” is heard from, the entire meaning and even what the viewer sees the time to refer to will vary. Thus, a crucial element in modern writing is using different narrators to the advantage of creating meaning for the reader. By varying her perspectives, Carson is able to change the tones of the short stories. By using her childhood self as a narrator, she purveys a since of innocence. Meanwhile by using an unnamed wise sounding narrator in other stories, she creates a sense of tenseness and urgency. Thus, she experimentally demonstrates that the narrator can heavily determine what the reader thinks of the piece, and therefore can very precisely be used as a creative device to convey meaning. In traditional writing styles, the main element to give the story meaning is the narrative itself. However, with more modern and distinct styles such as the short stories written where the narrative is no longer the primary stylistic device, but the use of metaphors and distinctive different narrators applies meaning to the stories. Though it is easy to judge what is different from tradition as inferior, this change is no different than the rise of cubism in the art world. Even though initially many would comment on the art not being “real,” or in this case, the stories being poorly written, this style has even more of an effect. After
What is Doyle’s message in Joyas Voladoras? Well, there could be many interpretations, but I specifically think that he’s trying to tell us about the heart. It does talk about many different subjects, like hummingbirds and blue whales, but it always comes back to ONE subject: the heart, the physical one and the emotional one.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
The change from differing mediums, novel and film, reveal characteristics and possibilities of narratives. Through the advancement of technology, modern writers
“Short Stories." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. 125-388. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. VALE - Mercer County Community College. 28 February 2014
In contrast, syntax provides a new perspective to the narrator s behavior as sentence structure draws attention to her erratic behavior. By her last entry, the narrator s sentences have become short and simple. Paragraphs 227 through 238 contain few adjectives resulting in limited descriptions yet her short sentences emphasize her actions providing plenty of imagery. The syntax quickly pulls the reader through the end as the narrator reaches an end to her madness.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
Short stories are a form of literature works that authors use to communicate various themes and issues to the reader. As such, it is common for different short stories authored by different people to have a central meaning or theme that differs from each other. In addition, the way the author portrays his/her central theme or meaning would differ from the way other authors would craft their short stories to best portray their central meaning. While some would use characterization as a means of portraying the theme of their story, other authors employ the use of symbols to better communicate their theme. However, some slight similarities can always be drawn between short stories. ‘Hills like White
Bynum, Paige. “Observe how healthily-how calmly i can tell you the whole story’ : Moral Insanity and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.” Literature and science are modes of expression. Eds. Frederick Amrine.Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989: 141-52. Rpt in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna S. Nesbitt. Vol. 34. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 273-77. Print.
Some of the most well known authors have been the creators of short stories. In only a few pages these authors provide the reader with a look into life's most passionate experiences; love, loss, death, and sacrifice. Throughout time their words have touched hearts and inspired many. Characters are remembered not merely as a fictional person in a story but are brought to life in the reader's mind, soul, and memory. These stories have survived the test of time and boundaries because of their connection to real life and the readers who share it with them.
A Fable for Tomorrow by Carson How does the Author of the following extracts use language to convey
The writer telling the story has a much easier time of thinking about the facts of the reality he has created when he is fictionally an active member of it. Although his narrators are not his normal voice, they are still a part of his writing self. They still must go through the filter of his conscious thought to be allowed to write the story. This means that when the reader is engaged in the process of comprehending this story, they unnoticeably bring together three separate filters. The author's, the narrators', and their own.
Eileen Baldeshwiler’s “The Lyric Short Story” discusses the two different branches of short story—the “epical” and the “lyrical” (231). Baldeshwiler highlights the separate functions of the forms by focusing on their stylistic differences. The epical short story, according to Baldeshwiler, relies heavily on “external action” that is “fabricated mainly to forward plot, culminating in a decisive ending that sometimes affords a universal insight” (231). Further, the plot and characters are “expressed in the serviceably inconspicuous language of prose realism” (Baldeshwiler 231). In other words, the characters, plot, and overall tone of the piece adhere to reality. In opposition to this style, Baldeshwiler explains that the lyrical short story “concentrates o...
Different writing styles present different tone and emotion. For example, a story about being in the war has more negative emotion than a story of a child being in her bedroom. Also, a story about a child makes the reader feel more relaxed and has an easier environment than a woman who is trying to be independent, which could encourage others to be independent themselves. Furthermore, when we analyze literature, we could find out that different authors have different writing styles. For instance, an adult could see a child’s visions, a war victim could talk positively while recalling her memories, and a person can be straightforward while chasing full independence. Also, when we read these stories, we can relate them to our own experiences.