Reading, Language, and Literature, Part 23

Question 1: Define drama, and discuss the three major groups of drama.

Answer 1: Drama is any work in which actors or actresses assume roles before an audience in a theatre, motion pictures, television, or radio. Drama is a major literary genre that may be subdivided into three major groups:1. Tragedy: a drama in which the leading character has a disastrous end. The character usually represents something significant, whether good or bad. Tragedy may be seen as an attempt to extract a value from human mortality, giving the subgenre a positive view of human life, despite its inevitable end.2. Tragicomedy: a drama that includes both comic and tragic elements. Tragicomedy thus results in a bittersweet mix of literary value. As George Bernard Shaw once commented, tragicomedy is a much deeper and grimmer entertainment than tragedy.3. Comedy: a type of drama that satirizes the misadventures of its characters. Comedy often emphasizes society and its mores rather than the individual (more common in tragedies). Its origins may be traced to the primitive celebrations of spring.

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Question 2: Define and discuss the three types of prose.

Answer 2: Prose is derived from the Latin and means “straightforward discourse.” Prose fiction, although having many categories, may be divided into three main groups:1. Short stories: a fictional narrative, the length of which varies, usually under 20,000 words. Short stories usually have only a few characters and generally describe one major event or insight. The short story began in magazines in the late 1800s and has flourished ever since.2. Novels: a longer work of fiction, often containing a large cast of characters and extensive plotting. The emphasis may be on an event, action, social problems, or any experience. There is now a genre of nonfiction novels pioneered by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in the 1960s. Novels may also be written in verse.3. Novellas: a work of narrative fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas may also be called short novels or novelettes. They originated from the German tradition and have become common forms in all of the world's literature.

Question 3: Describe some uses of analytical reading.

Answer 3: It is important for the reader to look carefully at the work of fiction being studied. The plot or action of a narrative can become so entertaining that the language of the work is ignored. The language of fiction should not simply be a way to relate a plot—it should also yield many insights to the judicious reader. Some prose fiction is based on the reader's engagement with the language rather than the story. A studious reader will analyze the mode of expression as well as the narrative. Part of the reward of reading in this manner is to discover how the author uses different language to describe familiar objects, events, or emotions. Some works focus the reader on an author’s unorthodox use of language, whereas others may emphasize characters or storylines. What happens in a story is not always the critical element in the work. This type of reading may be difficult at first but yields great rewards.

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