Lesson Four - Short Story

Introduction

Lesson Four - The Short Story
Duration - 1 block (1 x 80 min + homework)

"Life is too short for a long story." - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), British society figure, letter writer

Unit One is heavy on notes. Do not panic - the remainder of the course is not like this!! This unit is designed as a review and presentation of the bulk of the theory (notes) that you will need for this course. Please print off the notes and store them in a separate binder for easy reference as you move through ELA 30-1.

Fiction may be classified into two broad categories - literature of escape and literature of interpretation.  Escape literature is that written purely for entertainment - to help us pass the time agreeably,  Interpretive literature is written to broaden and deepen and sharpen our awareness of life.  Escape literature takes us away from the real world: it enables us temporarily to forget our troubles.  Interpretive literature take us, through the imagination, deeper into the real world: it enables us to understand our troubles.  Escape literature has as its only object pleasure.  Interpretive literature has as it object pleasure plus understanding.

Our study, this semester, will be mainly concerned with interpretive literature.