Chapter 1Reading the

StoryVicky Neal

Comp II

Reading the Story• Fiction whose sole purpose is to entertain

requires no serious or intensive study.• A story must expand or refine our thinking

on a significant topic or quicken our sense of life or its value is not greater than a video game or crossword puzzle.

• A story written with serious artistic intentions must yield not only enjoyment but also understanding.

Commercial Fiction• Is written primarily to make money.• Examples:

o Legal thrillersoRomance Novels

• Helps people to escape the tedium and stress of their lives

• Takes us away from the real world• Helps us temporarily forget our

troubles

Commercial Fiction• Has the reader’s immediate pleasure

as its object

Literary Fiction• Written with serious artistic intentions • With hopes to broaden, deepen, and

sharpen the reader’s awareness of life.

• It plunges us into the real world• Enabling us to understand life’s

difficulties and to empathize with others

Literary Fiction• Hope to provide a complex, lasting

aesthetic and intellectual pleasure rather than a simple, escapist diversion

• Its object is to offer pleasure plus understanding

Commercial & Literary Fiction

• These two categories of fiction are not clear-cut

• The terms “commercial” and “literary” should be applied to novels or stories themselves, not necessarily to their authors.

• The differences between commercial and literary fiction do not necessarily relate to the absence or presence of a “moral,” “facts,” or an element of fantasy.

• Commercial writers are like inventors who devise a contrivance for our diversion

• Literary writers are more like explorers; they take us out into the midst of life and say, “Look, here is the world in all its complexity.” They take us behind the scenes, where they show us the props and mirrors and seek to dispel the illusions.

• Any fiction that illuminates some aspect of human life or behavior with genuine originality and power may be called “literary”.

• Such a story presents an insight into the nature and condition of our existence.

• Gives us a keener awareness of our humanity

• Helps us understand our world, our neighbors, and ourselves.

Different Way of Reading

• Literary: Read it at least twice• 1. read the story the first time simply

to enjoy and familiarize yourself with it

• 2. read the story a second time, more slowly and deliberately, in the attempt to understand its full artistic significance.

Different Way of Reading

• Commercial: We come to the book with specific, fixed expectations and will feel frustrated and disappointed unless those expectations are met.

• 1. a sympathetic hero or heroine—someone with whom the reader can identify and whose adventures and triumphs the reader can share.

• 2. A defined plot in which something exciting is always happening and in which there is a strong element of suspense.

• 3. A happy ending that sends the reader away undisturbed and optimistic about life

• 4. a general theme, or “message,” that affirms widely held, conventional views of the world.

Fiction• Come to a novel or story with literary

intentionsoExpect the unexpectedoEnd in an unsettling or even unresolved

wayoKeep an open mindoStay receptive

• Fiction is an equally indispensable source of knowledge

Summary1) Differentiate between commercial fiction

and literary fiction.2) Explain the purposes of literacy fiction.3) Review the different types of short

stories.4) Describe the best way to read a short

story for the purpose of serious study.5) List the differing expectations we bring

to the reading of commercial and literary fiction.