LITERARY TERMINOLOGY #6

ENG200.001 -- Introduction to Literary Study

Prof. Eileen Joy

Spring 2005

Figure 1. "Papa" Hemingway at his writing desk in Cuba

CLIMAX: the point of greatest tension or emotional intensity in a plot. The climax follows the rising action and precedes the falling action (denouement). Climax is the point at which the conflict reaches its greatest height and the crisis, or turning point in the action occurs. Although crisis and climax generally occur together, crisis is sometimes distinguished from climax by critics who use the former term to refer to a purely structural element of the plot and the latter term to signify the point of greatest emotional intensity. Critics who make this distinction would maintain that the climax may thus occur at points other than the crisis, and sometimes climax is used to signify multiple minor emotional peaks in the plot, whereas crisis is reserved to refer to the single point at which the protagonist's fortunes change decisively for the better or the worse.

FLAT AND ROUND CHARACTERS: terms coined by E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel (1927) to refer to depth and complexity of characterization. Flat characters, Forster claims, are easily recognizable by their very lack of complexity. Such characters tend to be caricatures defined by a single idea or quality. Their essences can usually be summed up neatly in a single sentence. Round characters, which have the level of complexity and depth we associate with real people, have been fully developed by the author. They can surprise us convincingly, for they have full-blown personalities complete with ambiguities and quirks that make it almost as difficult to describe them reductively as it would be to describe a friend or family member in a single sentence. Forster argues that works must generally have a mixture of flat and round characters in order to represent the world as we tend to perceive it, so he does not automatically assign a derogatory connotation to flat characters.

FORESHADOWING: the technique of introducing into a narrative material that prepares a reader or audience for future events, actions, or revelations. Foreshadowing often involves the creation of mood or atmosphere that suggests an eventual outcome (think of all the times Poe's narrator, Monstresor, in "The Cask of Amontillado," refers to the bones, spider-webs, and mildewed dampness of the underground catacombs he is walking through with Fortunato). Foreshadowing also involves the introduction of objects, facts, events or characters that hint at or otherwise prefigure a developing situation or conflict, OR, the exposition of certain character traits that allow the audience or reader to anticipate the character's actions or fate. Occasionally the theme or conclusion of a work is foreshadowed by its title. The playwright Anton Chekhov once said, "if there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must be fire in the last."

PERSONA: generally, the speaker (the "I") in any first-person poem or narrative. The term derives from the Latin word for "mask" and literally refers to that though which sound passes. Although the persona often serves as the "voice" of the author, it nonetheless should not be confused with the author, for the persona may not accurately reflect the author's personal opinions, feelings, or perspective on a subject. J. Alfred Prufrock is a notable example of a poetic persona, as is Pip, who narrates Great Expectations. Neither of these two personas can be confused with their creators, T.S. Eliot and Charles Dickens, respectively.

RISING ACTION: in a short story, the events that complicate the situation and intensify or complicate the conflict or introduce new conflicts. Rising action usually follows the inciting moment (the event that gives rise to the first conflict) and precedes the climax (turning point) or the crisis. Rising action is one of the five structural elements associated with Freytag's Pyramid, a model developed by Gustav Freytag for analyzing five-act plays, and tragedies in particular (but the model can be applied to many conventional short stories as well).

The definitions above have been partly pilfered from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (2nd edition). Other additions are the work of the fevered mind of Prof. Joy.