Throughout Rosemary Jackson's work three significant points could me made about her definition of the fantastic. Jackson writes about the fantastic as a genre or mode, how it should be interpreted by the reader, and more specifically, what it embodies. According to Jackson, because the fantastic is not a literary category it can not be defined as a genre and should therefore be referred to as a mode placed between the marvelous and the uncanny. Referring to the fantastic as a "mode" helps and leans towards a definition of this type of literature. Typically, a mode is a constant and distinct manner of doing or thinking, if it is altered in any way the mode changes. Applying this idea to the fantastic implies that the fantastic itself is a mode, if it is altered it immediately becomes marvelous or uncanny, which leads to Jackson's definition. The fantastic is the grey area which lies between the marvelous and uncanny, it is located on either side of a principle axis and distorts one's image of what is real by challenging and disorientating the reader's perceptions. In fact, the fantastic has conditions which is must satisfy with respect to the reader. First the text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and to hesitate between a natural and supernatural explanation of the events described. Second, this hesitation may also be experienced by a character. Third, the reader must reject all poetic and mythical interpretations (Jackson 28). The fantastic uncanny leans towards explanations that can be explained by logic and rules of the world as we know it whereas the fantastic marvelous doesn't question the supernatural.
A series of events in Edgar Allan Peo's "The Black Cat" r...
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...ory tells one of a regular couple who have been cursed with four "idiot" sons and a daughter whom they idolize and favorite. At the end of the narrative, the four sons decapitate their sister just as they had observed what had been done to the chicken. At no point in the story does a happening occur which leaves the reader questioning the events described. Although the series of these incidents seem strange, the reader is not forced to chose between a natural and supernatural explanation of these events. Therefore, Jackson's definition of the fantastic does not apply and the story can be categorized as merely uncanny.
According to Jackson many conditions must be respected in order for a story to be fantastic. Both narratives were solved by logical explanations and although some instances of may have confused the reader, they do not remain in a fantastic mode.
A deeper understanding of the book clearly reveals that despite his flaws, Robinson Crusoe was admirable. Three obvious and commendable reasons for this are the facts that he kindled a
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
...rms of literature, too. The hesitation in this story is a characteristic of fantastic literature, and the language is a characteristic of the sublime. This story may also be categorized as psychic or grotesque realism. Whether or not this is a work of magical realism or another form of literature, the final conclusion is up to the reader.
What makes a book successful? Perhaps it is the characters and their varying personalities that make them memorable and realistic, or maybe it’s the thought-provoking plotline with its many twists and turns. One of the elements to a good book is most definitely the characters, and a good number of main characters gain their characteristics when the author encounters someone similar in their life. This encounter makes the character seem real, someone the reader can relate to. The same inspiration can be said happened for Flowers for Algernon. Specific events in Daniel Keyes’s life led to the formation of many main characters.
The symbolism in the story is quite astounding, the sheer amount of information Jackson crammed into the little story is worthy of a medal in its own right. The Christian symbolism noted primarily by Martine, and the analysis of the characters and their actions by Tew both were well put together. They expanded on some areas I hit and found ones I did not even notice.
Usually, the little old lady who lives down the street is always a sweet old woman who bakes cookies and knits all day, but in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth she had developed a very evil hobby. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility Of Evil” Miss Strangeworth may seem like a nice old lady but she is really a proud, cruel, and secretive woman, who enjoys making everyone in the town she lived in feel terrible without even knowing she was doing it.
In this paper, I will present the two stories then I’ll show how they compare and contrast. The first one is the drama by Hansberry and the second is the text of Ellison.
In general, I have learned that every fantasy story affects a reader’s suspension of disbelief in different ways, and it depends on the fantasy setting and on Rosemary Jackson’s concept of ‘known’, ‘unknown’ and the ‘longing for an absolute
of how John Steinbeck uses extraordinary circumstances to create appeal and realism to the reader.
In my view, I doubt whether we have misread McCullers’s concern with the deformed people, these “monstrous” characters. We could not explore the flourishing connotation of freakish figures through its correspondence with essence in existentialism. Nor could we simply validate these characters as the product of the exaggeration on loneliness and failure in gaining love. Because these interpretations seem to reduce the aesthetic distinction that McCullers creates. Furthermore, these interpretations “involve a certain sacrifice: they tend to lose humanity, becoming symbols rather than people” (Evans, 302). William Van O’Connor’s accounts for the grotesque in southern writing as a response to a world of violence and upheaval, is highly reasonable
Nobody wants to be unextrordinary, unremarkable, unmemorable. Tim Burton’s Big Fish and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, both together and individually, teach that sometimes the best story stretches the truth, because of an aversion to “dry, yeastless factuality” or simply an aspiration to be remembered.
Jackson is able to keep the reader off guard by making use of an objective, third-person narrative style in which details are obtainable but no judgments are made. It is almost as if one is seeing a movie or observing events by looking over the shoulders of the participants, without being able to see into the minds of the people. Any hints of inner turmoil are merely suggested by the actions of the characters a nervous tiny of the voice, a scuffling of feet, a whisper when normal speech would be right. On the other hand, the description of outward actions and physical setting is direct and, when viewed in retrospect, contributes directly to the macabre climax toward which the story moves up to. The story opens with a scene of small children
Magical realism was first coined by Franz Roh when he was writing about paintings. Artaro Ulsar Pietri was the first to use the term when talking about literature. Magical realism is also related to other academic fields such as philosophy, psychology, mathmatics, physics, and theology. Im magical realism, "the writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts" (Leal 121). Viktor E. Frankl uses this concept in his book Man's Search For Meaning.
Magical Realism and Man's Search for Meaning Five Works Cited Real life experiences that happen in a person's life are important, and these are what magical realism is all about. The meaning of life is wrapped all into our way of living. The world is full of passion and magic and without this passion and magic the world would not exist. Victor Frankl, a 2oth century psychiatrist, had this passion as well as a lot of other people who have survived many obstacles in their lives. Magic is the marvelous in reality.
keeping the reader a part of the story is the vivid descriptions given of the