Reading Narrative Fiction PDF
Preview Reading Narrative Fiction
Seymour Chatman REAPING - -- - 1.- /Vu~~-"- -- ". \..... 1, _FICTIO:N " , READING NARRATIVE FICTION pre~ents a umque and comprehensive, application of narrative theory to a carefully chosen group of traditional and contemporary short stories. This anthology, teaches st~dents how to write about fiction creatively by-learning how to analyze its structure as well as its content. e The 60~short stories included represent authors from different races; gen ders, classes, and cultures, offering students a broad view of how fiction reflects the complexities of the human situation. • The elements of n<!rrative theory are clearly'linked to interpretation of the readings, showing students how technical insights can help them understand the intent and impact of a creative work. e The text respects and builds on student experience with movies and televi- .' sion, drawing connections between narrative techniques in fiction and co~p~- rable techniques used by these media. e, The appendix, "How to Write about Fiction, " offers clear, direct instruc tion -in how to write critical papers, illustrated by a sample student essay in , I multiple drafts . .. Questions and study sugge'stions address both.the literary techniques'and themes of the short story under discussion. / , ) "- , / ISBN 0-02-322111-9 90000) / Reading Narrative Fiction Reading Narrative Fiction SEYMOUR CHATMAN University of California, Berkeley With material contributed by BRIAN ATTEBERY Idaho State University Macmillan Publishing Company New York Editor: Barbara A. Heinssen Production Supervisor: Jane O'Neill Production Manager: Sandra E. Moore Text Designer: Marilyn Prudente Cover Designer: Proof Positive Cover Illustration: Pierre Bonnard, "The Window," 1925, Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource This book was set in 10/12 Garamond Book by Digitype, Inc. and was printed and bound by Book Press, Inc. The cover was printed by New England Book Components, Inc. Acknowledgments appear on pages 631-635, which constitute an extension of the copyright page. Copyright © 1993 by Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of Macmillan, Inc. Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022 Macmillan Publishing Company is part of the Maxwell Communication Group of Companies. Maxwell Macmillan Canada, Inc. 1200 Eglinton Avenue East Suite 200 Don Mills, Ontario M3C 3N1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reading narrative fiction / [edited by] Seymour Chatman; with material contributed by Brian Attebery. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-02-322111-9 1. Short stories. 2. Short story. 3. Narration (RhetoriC) I. Chatman, Seymour Benjamin, 1928- . II. Attebery, Brian, 1951- PN6120.2.R44 1993 808.3'1-dc20 92-21747 CIP Printing: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Year: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 For Mariel v Preface My anthology begins and ends by assuming that we read stories for pleasure: no responsible teacher wants to interfere with that pleasure. It is the pleasure of immersion, of being caught up in a fictional world, a web of events, characters, and settings. But an additional pleasure is that of understanding how authors create that world, weave that web. So I provide detailed explana tions, derived from recent studies in narratology, about the important building blocks authors use to create their fictions. I begin by defining narrative, especially in comparison to other kinds of texts, such as description and argument. Later chapters describe, and in some caSes redefine, basic notions such as plot, character, setting, theme, irony, narrator, and "point of view." The sixty short stories I have chosen are worthy of inclusion on their literary merit alone, and some literature classes will elect to use this book without further concern for my technical input. But these stories also furnish a treasure trove of narrative strategies. They can be enjoyed in two stages: first, in their own right as engaging and, in some cases, moving entertainments, and second, as constructed works of art worth analyzing. Space restriction prevents me from including a novel (though Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" qualifies at least as a novella), but the insights to be acquired about narrative from these short fictions can easily be applied to novels as well. Many of the terms used to name narrative features-such as "charac terization" and "point of view" -are familiar to high school students. But in classroom discussions of actual stories they tend to be used vaguely or not at all. I hope that clearer and more exact definitions-and especially illustra tions of how ~ese features operate in short stories-will enable all students, whether in freshman composition courses, sophomore survey courses, or ad vanced literature courses, to read narratives more sensitively and with a new awareness of how they are constructed. (Terms for narrative features are listed alphabetically in the Glossary on pp. 625 -629.) Each of the nine chapters in the first part of the book discusses one aspect of nction and offers short stories that employ that aspect in a particu lady effective way. One or more of the short stories may be read before or after vii viii PREFACE the discussion; ideally, they would be read both before and after. The Further Reading section provides many additional short stories which, aside from their intrinsic merits, serve as challenging targets for narrative analysis. I have tried to pick short stories that are particularly relevant to our times. Uppermost in my mind was fiction's uncanny power to capture, often more accurately than news accounts, the actual social and psychological diver sity of human lives. That overriding thought led me to a large number of short stories by women and by people of color. Further, since English is the native language of many nations and a second language for many other people throughout the world, I have included stories from Ireland, Canada, the Carib bean, Mrica, India, and Australia. The book also offers classic short stories, both in English and in translation from foreign languages, that illustrate (how ever modestly) the history of the genre. One consequence of this diversity was the need to limit the book to a single short story per author. But readers who would like more selections by a particular author will find ample book refer ences in the biographical headnote preceding each selection. To simplify the task of understanding historical, geographical, and other details that American students might find unfamiliar, I have added explanatory footnotes. Reading short stories and analyzing their structure is a crucial educa tional exercise. Happily, unlike many exercises, it is pleasurable in itself. However hard-headed our society may be, rare is the individual who dislikes voyages into the worlds of fiction. Even students who haven't read much enjoy watching stories unfold on television and at the movies. They are aware of and are more interested in narrative forms than teachers sometimes think. This anthology tries to show how given narrative techniques-say, "flashback" or "point of view" -work in any narrative medium whatsoever and, conse quently, how a student who already understands a bit about their workings in film and television can easily transfer this competence to literature. The bene fits of an improved ability to read narrative fiction extend far beyond the simple pleasure of make-believe. These benefits are discussed in the Introduc tion. The Introduction also outlines the kind of discussion to be found in the following nine chapters and sketches in brief how the various parts of a narrative fit together. I have designed my book to stimulate oral and written discussion of these short stories. In the first section, each story is followed by a group of questions about its content and form, and each chapter ends with suggestions for writing about the chapter topic and the stories that illustrate it. An appen dix entitled "How to Write about Fiction" (pp. 603 - 624) offers explicit instruction-even concrete "do's" and "don'ts"-for composing critical papers. A sample student journal entry as well as two drafts of a student essay, with instructional commentary, are also provided. I recommend that students read this appendix carefully before submitting their first written exercises. Though I have not included explicit instruction in writing fiction, the material in the nine chapters and the sixty short stories should inspire those who want to try their hand at the art. If you feel so inclined, go for it; and don't worry too much about being original. Many famous authors have started out by
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