北大医学部复习资料the role of truth in fiction.docx

There’s an old saying: “The only things in life of which you can be certain are death and taxes.” Although this might be true, you can be certain of something else: As a college student, you’re going be required to take English courses, and in those courses, you’re going to be required to write analyses of literary works. This being the case, it will be to your benefit to learn the meaning of fiction and the various elements of the short story. The Role of Truth in Fiction Webster’s New World Dictionary defines fiction as “anything made up or imagined; any literary work portraying imaginary characters and events; something accepted as fact, although not necessarily true” (p. 518). The word “fiction,” however, has its roots in the Latin “fictio,” which means “a shaping, a counterfeiting” (Kennedy, 1976, p. 1). Correspondingly, writers might “shape” or offer alternate versions of reality, but most stories contain elements of truth. For instance, when authors write historical novels, they draw upon facts for creating scenes, events, and characters; but unlike in a history book, these facts are secondary to the story. What readers expect from a work of fiction, after all, isn’t an authentic historical account but simply an impression of the people and their way of life in a particular time and place. For example, Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage, although the Civil War ended in 1865 and he was born in 1871, but Crane’s novel paints a vivid, as well as accurate, picture of the battlefront and the horrors of war, all within the context of a work of fiction (Columbia, 1990). Elements of the Short Story When you read a story, and before you begin writing an analysis, you should examine the various elements of the story and ask yourself specific questions: Setting: Where and when is the story set? Is the setting significant? If so, why? For example, Count Leo Tolstoy’s “Master and Man” is set during a Russian winter in a blinding snowstorm, and the weather is c