Writing Help 129 | - ☆ Freelance Writer
Apr 05, 2013 | #1
Terms You Need for Writing about the Novel
Up to this point, all of the series have dealt with nuts and bolts of language, including how to use it correctly, and how to use it to achieve desired effects. These elements are absolutely necessary in order to make your writing, as well as your analyses of the writings of others, as effective as possible. Also, everything covered in the previous three series is applicable to almost any kind of linguistic act, whether that be informal speech, formal prose, or creative writing. In this series, we depart from our pervious methods and tackle a more specific kind of academic challenge, writing about the novel.
Although the study of other literary forms is important, nothing seems to power the high school or college English classroom like the study of the novel. Although you may find classes around the nation which feature no Shakespeare and very few poets, any general English literature course will have at least one and likely several novels to deal with in a given semester, and these works often become the central focus of the courses in which they are covered. Just as the novel has come to be the dominant literary form, outstripping both drama and poetry since its inception more than 300 years ago, so too has it risen above these forms in the public and private school systems.
At least part of the reason for this is that the novel is written in language that is most easily accessible to readers of a given time (though there have been some very important experimental exceptions). Poetry plays with and takes liberties with language to such a degree that it is often more difficult to understand than prose, and drama (to be properly appreciated) must be staged, a daunting prospect for many teachers and professors with limited time and resources. Further, the novel is of sufficient length to be a topic of study for an extended period of time, and it contains enough material that the teaching of novels and their devices in general is usually possible through the study of one or two good examples. It is currently the most teachable form of literature considering the current academic structure of North American schools, and it will likely continue to be so for many years to come.
Because it has become such a classroom staple, as well as a popular phenomenon outside of the classroom, the novel often appears to offer itself for analysis without much difficulty or resistance. Anyone who is literate can read and understand a novel, so it seems strange to many students that a specialized vocabulary has been developed to deal with it. My response to this sentiment is that not every literate person can understand a novel, and that although most will achieve a certain level of comprehension, there will be layers of meaning that those who have no background in novel study will miss entirely. Further, understanding of given novelistic phenomena is made exceedingly difficult if one does not have the terminology to give large concepts more convenient labels. By giving terms to ideas that would otherwise take phrases or even paragraphs to describe, we are able to speak far more efficiently, allowing us to penetrate to deeper concerns, rather than merely reiterating the surface devices we see again and again.
Think of the terms and devices presented in this series as tools for dissecting and exploring the inner workings of novels. Without them, you will be left staring at the outside of inert bodies, able to identify what you see but unable to explain how or why it appears as it does before you.
Introduction
Up to this point, all of the series have dealt with nuts and bolts of language, including how to use it correctly, and how to use it to achieve desired effects. These elements are absolutely necessary in order to make your writing, as well as your analyses of the writings of others, as effective as possible. Also, everything covered in the previous three series is applicable to almost any kind of linguistic act, whether that be informal speech, formal prose, or creative writing. In this series, we depart from our pervious methods and tackle a more specific kind of academic challenge, writing about the novel.
Although the study of other literary forms is important, nothing seems to power the high school or college English classroom like the study of the novel. Although you may find classes around the nation which feature no Shakespeare and very few poets, any general English literature course will have at least one and likely several novels to deal with in a given semester, and these works often become the central focus of the courses in which they are covered. Just as the novel has come to be the dominant literary form, outstripping both drama and poetry since its inception more than 300 years ago, so too has it risen above these forms in the public and private school systems.At least part of the reason for this is that the novel is written in language that is most easily accessible to readers of a given time (though there have been some very important experimental exceptions). Poetry plays with and takes liberties with language to such a degree that it is often more difficult to understand than prose, and drama (to be properly appreciated) must be staged, a daunting prospect for many teachers and professors with limited time and resources. Further, the novel is of sufficient length to be a topic of study for an extended period of time, and it contains enough material that the teaching of novels and their devices in general is usually possible through the study of one or two good examples. It is currently the most teachable form of literature considering the current academic structure of North American schools, and it will likely continue to be so for many years to come.
Because it has become such a classroom staple, as well as a popular phenomenon outside of the classroom, the novel often appears to offer itself for analysis without much difficulty or resistance. Anyone who is literate can read and understand a novel, so it seems strange to many students that a specialized vocabulary has been developed to deal with it. My response to this sentiment is that not every literate person can understand a novel, and that although most will achieve a certain level of comprehension, there will be layers of meaning that those who have no background in novel study will miss entirely. Further, understanding of given novelistic phenomena is made exceedingly difficult if one does not have the terminology to give large concepts more convenient labels. By giving terms to ideas that would otherwise take phrases or even paragraphs to describe, we are able to speak far more efficiently, allowing us to penetrate to deeper concerns, rather than merely reiterating the surface devices we see again and again.
Think of the terms and devices presented in this series as tools for dissecting and exploring the inner workings of novels. Without them, you will be left staring at the outside of inert bodies, able to identify what you see but unable to explain how or why it appears as it does before you.