Leoje Miranda BS ECON BUS 3

3:00-4:30 MW LITERATURE 2
TYPES OF FICTION

Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the genre of Gothic horror and gothic
fiction, is a genre or mode of literature that combines fiction, horror, death and
Romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764
novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled (in its second edition) "A Gothic Story." The
effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic
literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. It
originated in England in the second half of the 18th century and had much success
in the 19th, as witnessed by Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and the works of Edgar
Allan Poe. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era,
is Bram Stokers Dracula. The name Gothic refers to the (pseudo)-medieval
buildings, emulating Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place.
This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany. The
English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German Schauerroman
and the French Georgia.
A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel"
normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly
and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the
term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals. The earliest known use of
the term "graphic novel" was in 1964. It was popularized within the comics
community [citation needed] after the publication of Will Eisner's A Contract with
God (1978) and became familiar to the public in the late 1980s after the commercial
successes of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986), Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons' Watchmen (serialized in 1986 and 1987, collected in 1987), and the first
volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus (serialized from 1980 to 1991, collected in 1991).
The Book Industry Study Group includes "graphic novel" as a category in book
stores
A novella is a work of written, fictional, narrative prose normally longer than a
short story but shorter than a novel. The English word "novella" derives from the
Italian "novella", feminine of "novello", which means "new". The novella is a
common literary genre in several European languages.The novella as a literary
genre began developing in the early Renaissance by the Italian and French
literatura, principally Giovanni Boccaccio, author of The Decameron (1353). The
Decameron featured one hundred tales (novellas) told by ten people (seven women
and three men) fleeing the Black Death by escaping from Florence to the Fiesole
hills in 1348. This structure would then be imitated by subsequent authors, notably
the French queen Marguerite de Navarre, who wrote a Heptamron (1559) that
included seventy-two original French tales and was modeled after the structure of
The Decameron.
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features
animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are

anthropomorphized (given human qualities, such as verbal communication) and

that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may
at the end be added explicitly as a pithy maxim. A fable differs from a parable in
that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as
actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind.
A dystopia is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is
translated as "not-good place", an antonym of utopia, a term that was coined by Sir
Thomas More and figures as the title of his most well-known work, "Utopia."
"Utopia" is the blueprint for an ideal society with no crime or poverty. Dystopian
societies appear in many artistic works, particularly in stories set in a future. Some
of the most famous examples are 1984 and Brave New World. Dystopias are often
characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster,
or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Dystopian
societies appear in many subgenres of fiction and are often used to draw attention
to real-world issues regarding society, environment, politics, economics, religion,
psychology, ethics, science, and/or technology, which if unaddressed could
potentially lead to such a dystopia-like condition.
The picaresque novel is a genre of prose fiction which depicts the adventures of a
roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. Picaresque
novels typically adopt a realistic style, with elements of comedy and satire. This
style of novel originated in 16th-century Spain and flourished throughout Europe in
the 17th and 18th centuries. It continues to influence modern literature.
According to the traditional view of Thrall and Hibbard (first published in 1936),
seven qualities distinguish the picaresque novel or narrative form, all or some of
which may be employed for effect by the author. A picaresque narrative is usually
written in first person as an autobiographical account. The main character is often
of low character or social class. He or she gets by with wit and rarely deigns to hold
a job. There is no plot. The story is told in a series of loosely connected adventures
or episodes. There is little if any character development in the main character. Once
a picaro, always a picaro. His or her circumstances may change but they rarely
result in a change of heart. The picaro's story is told with a plainness of language or
realism. Satire might sometimes be a prominent element. The behavior of a
picaresque hero or heroine stops just short of criminality. Carefree or immoral
rascality positions the picaresque hero as a sympathetic outsider, untouched by the
false rules of society. However, Trall and Hibbert's thesis has been questioned by
scholars interested in how genre functions, rather than how it looks on the surface.
Philosophical novel refers to works of fiction in which a significant proportion of
the work is devoted to a discussion of the sort of questions normally addressed in
discursive philosophy. These might include the function and role of society, the
purpose of life, ethics or morals, the role of art in human lives, and the role of
experience or reason in the development of knowledge. Philosophical fiction works
would include the so-called novel of ideas, including a significant proportion of
science fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, and Bildungsroman. The modus
operandi seems to be to use a normal story to simply explain difficult and/or dark
parts of human life.

Thesis Novel a novel that advances, illustrates, or defends a thesis <a thesis novel
directed against the corruption of the clergy.
a Bildungsroman, novel of formation, novel of education, or coming of age story
(though it may also be known as a subset of the coming-of-age story) is a literary
genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from
youth to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is extremely
important.
Local color or regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the
characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific
region. Influenced by Southwestern and Down East humor, between the Civil War
and the end of the nineteenth century this mode of writing became dominant in
American literature. According to the Oxford Companion to American Literature, "In
local-color literature one finds the dual influence of romanticism and realism, since
the author frequently looks away from ordinary life to distant lands, strange
customs, or exotic scenes, but retains through minute detail a sense of fidelity and
accuracy of description" (439). Its weaknesses may include nostalgia or
sentimentality. Its customary form is the sketch or short story, although Hamlin
Garland argued for the novel of local color. Regional literature incorporates the
broader concept of sectional differences, although in Writing Out of Place, Judith
Fetterley and Marjorie Pryse have argued convincingly that the distinguishing
characteristic that separates "local color" writers from "regional" writers is instead
the exploitation of and condescension toward their subjects that the local color
writers demonstrate. One definition of the difference between realism and local
color is Eric Sundquist's: "Economic or political power can itself be seen to be
definitive of a realist aesthetic, in that those in power (say, white urban males) have
been more often judged 'realists,' while those removed from the seats of power
(say, Midwesterners, blacks, immigrants, or women) have been categorized as
regionalists."
Roman clef, French for novel with a key, is a novel about real life, overlaid with a
faade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the
"key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction. This "key" may be
produced separately by the author, or implied through the use of epigraphs or other
literary techniques.
Created by Madeleine de Scudery in the 17th century to provide a forum for her
thinly veiled fiction featuring political and public figures, roman clef has since
been used by writers as diverse as Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Victor Hugo,
Phillip K. Dick, Bret Easton Ellis, Naguib Mahfouz, and Malachi Martin.
The reasons an author might choose the roman clef format include satire; writing
about controversial topics and/or reporting inside information on scandals without
giving rise to charges of libel; the opportunity to turn the tale the way the author
would like it to have gone; the opportunity to portray personal, autobiographical
experiences without having to expose the author as the subject; avoiding selfincrimination or incrimination of others that could be used as evidence in civil,
criminal, or disciplinary proceedings; and the settling of scores. Biographically
inspired works have also appeared in other literary genres and art forms, notably
the film clef.

A psychological novel, also called psychological realism, is a work of prose fiction

which places more than the usual amount of emphasis on interior characterization,
and on the motives, circumstances, and internal action which springs from, and
develops, external action. The psychological novel is not content to state what
happens but goes on to explain the motivation of this action. In this type of writing
character and characterization are more important than usual, and they often delve
deeper into the mind of a character than novels of other genres. The psychological
novel can be called a novel of the "inner man," so to say. In some cases, the stream
of consciousness technique, as well as interior monologues, may be employed to
better illustrate the inner workings of the human mind at work. Flashbacks may also
be featured. While these three textual techniques are also prevalent in literary
modernism, there is no deliberate effort to fragment the prose or compel the reader
to interpret the text.
Satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which
vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the
intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government or society itself, into
improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose
is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular
and wider issues in society. A feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm "in satire,
irony is militant but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison,
analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing.
This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as
natural) the very things the satirist wishes to attack. Satire is nowadays found in
many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary,
television shows, and media such as lyrics.
Allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. Allegory has been
used widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily
illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to
its viewers, readers, or listeners.
Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature of extreme brevity. There is no widely
accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for
flash fiction impose caps as low as fifty three words, while others consider stories as
long as a thousand words to be flash fiction.
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is
letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are
sometimes used. The epistolary form can add greater realism to a story, because it
mimics the workings of real life. It is thus able to demonstrate differing points of
view without recourse to the device of an omniscient narrator.
Prose is a form of language that exhibits a grammatical structure and a natural
flow of speech rather than a rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). While
there are critical debates on the construction of prose, its simplicity and loosely
defined structure have led to its adoption for use in the majority of spoken dialogue,
factual discourse and both topical and fictional writing. It is commonly used, for
example, in literature, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film,
history, philosophy, law and other forms of communication.

A minisaga, mini saga or mini-saga is a short piece of writing containing exactly 50

words, plus a title of up to 15 signs. However, the title requirement is not always
enforced and sometimes eliminated altogether. Minisagas are alternately known as
microstories, ultra-shorts stories, or fifty-word stories.
The social novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a
"work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class
prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel". More
specific examples of social problems that are addressed in such works, include
poverty, conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labor, violence against
women, rising criminality, and epidemics because of over-crowding, and poor
sanitation in cities. Terms like thesis novel, propaganda novel, industrial novel,
working-class novel and problem novel are also used to describe this type of novel;
a recent development in this genre is the young adult problem novel. It is also
referred to as the sociological novel. The social protest novel is a form of social
novel which places an emphasis on the idea of social change, while the Proletarian
novel is political form of the social protest novel which may emphasizes revolution.
While early examples are found in 18th century England, social novels have been
written throughout Europe and the United States.
A Kunstlerroman, meaning "artist's novel" in English, is a narrative about an
artist's growth to maturity. It may be classified as a specific subgenre of
Bildungsroman; such a work, usually a novel, tends to depict the conflicts of a
sensitive youth against the values of a middle and upper class society of his or her
time.