Allegory
“1. The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
2. A story, picture, or play employing such representation.
3. A symbolic representation: the blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice.”
“allegory.” [The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 15 Sep. 2008.
<Dictionary.com
Allegory can be synonymous with emblem and in this case has a definite meaning, unlike a symbol (the allegory of justice is also its emblem, that is, the symbolic sign or figure representing something by convention).
Alliteration
A pattern of repeated identical or similar consonant sounds. In Anglo-Saxon poetry, alliteration at the beginning of words is used as a structuring device to hold the line together, like rhyme in later poetry.
Allusion
An indirect reference to some piece of knowledge not actually mentioned. Allusions usually come from a body of information that the author presumes the reader will know. For example, an author who writes, “She was another Helen,” is alluding to the proverbial beauty of Helen of Troy.
Defamiliarization
The artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar.
Denouement (“untying of the knot”):
The outcome of the climax, the resolution of the conflict.
Dramatic irony occurs when a character states something that they believe to be true but that the reader knows is not true. The key to dramatic irony is the reader's foreknowledge of coming events.
Frame story
A narrative device employed to organize a number of shorter stories within one work. A frame story sets the ground for the other stories and makes them interconnected through, for example, a figure of a storyteller or a situation bringing several storytellers together. A frame story usually not only opens the work, but also permeates it in various ways and serves to draw conclusions at the end, once the stories have been told.
Free indirect speechis a mode of third-person narration involving some of the elements of first-person direct speech. Free indirect speech, unlike regular indirect speech, lacks introductory expressions such as "She replied" or "he said"; it imitates first-hand evidence of what the character is thinking and feeling rather than saying things aloud.
Gradation in literature: a step-by-step gradual progression building up an emotional effect..
Hubris (Greek for “insolence”).
A character’s tragic flaw, his or her excessive self-confidence and pride, that leads to a reversal of fortune.
Hybridity: (of a person or a culture)
A mixture of the colonized experience and the colonial language and culture (ex., education).
Imagery
1. A set of mental pictures or images.
2. a. The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
b. The use of expressive or evocative images in art, literature, or music.
c. A group or body of related images, as in a painting or poem.
Interpolated narrative
A longer narrative containing narrative interruptions (aside remarks, stories within stories, etc.).
Intertextuality
The interconnection between various works of art and literature. The meaning of a literary work is created with the help of other literary texts, paintings, music pieces, etc. Referring to other works of art known to the reader gives additional dimension to the literary work.
Irony
A difference or contrast between appearance and reality - that is a discrepancy between what appears to be true and what really is true. I. Irony exposes and underscores a contrast between: A. what is and what seems to be B. what is and what ought to be C. what is and what one wishes to be D. what is and what one expects to be II.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.”
Metapoetic
Metapoetics (noun), metapoetic (adjective). The phenomenon of writers/poets reflecting on literature within their own writings, that is, literature discussing itself.
Metonymy
A figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as “scepter” for “sovereignty,” or “the bottle” for “strong drink,” or “count heads (or noses)” for “count people.”
Motif
A detail within the story that repeats itself throughout the work. Examples of common motifs include colors, character traits, objects, locations, or situations. The sky's the limit, really. What makes something a motif is when it shows up several times throughout the story. Think of them as breadcrumbs left by the author to draw your attention toward something important in the theme or message of the story.
Narrative
“1. A story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
2. A book, literary work, etc., containing such a story.
3. The art, technique, or process of narrating.” [“narrative.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 15 Sep. 2008. <Dictionary.com
Novel (appeared in the 18th century).
A long fiction narrative, accounts of a succession of events in the life of a character/group of characters; usually, displays character development in the course of time.
Omniscient author
"Omniscient" means "all-knowing." An omniscient author - one who takes an omniscient point of view--can see and report everything. The telling of the story can reveal actions performed by any character, tell the thoughts of any character, and show events from the perspective of any character. The reader might be able to see inside the mind and motivations of the hero and heroine, the villain, the secondary characters, and even inactive spectators.
Oral literature
Oral literature is a broad term which may include ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, musical genres, folk tales, creation tales, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, word games, recitations, life histories or historical narratives. Most simply, oral literature refers to any form of verbal art which is transmitted orally or delivered by word of mouth. […] The Canadian Encyclopedia suggests that "the term oral literature is sometimes used interchangeably with folklore, but it usually has a broader focus. The expression is self-contradictory: literature, strictly speaking, is that which is written down; but the term is used here to emphasize the imaginative creativity and conventional structures that mark oral discourse too. Oral literature shares with written literature the use of heightened language in various genres (narrative, lyric, epic, etc), but it is set apart by being actualized only in performance and by the fact that the performer can (and sometimes is obliged to) improvise so that oral text constitutes an event."
Oxymoron
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
Personification
An artistic device of representing an inanimate object or an abstract idea as a living creature or a person
Plot
The succession of events as presented in a literary work. Can be both linear (chronological) and non-linear (non-chronological or recursive), where the direct causality is disrupted and the narrative does not follow the logical order of events. Non-linear plot can involve flashbacks and flash-forwards, fragmented narration, a frame story, more than one narrator, a radical change of point of view, etc.
Point of view
The perspective from which the characters are seen and the events are presented. Determines the plot (succession of events), the details, the style, the language, and more.
Postcolonial literature
Literature investigating the interaction between the colonized and colonizing cultures. Breaks the tradition to see colonized cultures through the filters of the colonizing culture.
Postmodern novel
Literally – “coming after modern.” The type of the novel that appeared in the second half of the 20th century and is still widespread. Characteristics:
•Re-evaluates the past and, as a consequence, the present;
•Plays with genres, values, traditions;
•Creates new meaning out of fragments of previously existing (classical) lore;
•Renders a sense of uncertainty, doubt, relativity.
Setting
The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs; the setting of an episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place. […] Setting can be a central or peripheral factor in the meaning of a work. The setting is usually established through description--but sometimes narration or dialogue also reveals the location and time.
Short story (developed in the 19th century). A shorter genre of fiction narrative, can take the form of a short short story (one main event, brief period of time, short in length), long short story (more events, more significant in length) and novella (deals with a period in character’s life; half way to a novel in size).
Simile
An artistic comparison stressing similarity between objects, actions, persons, etc., in order to point to their special characteristics.
A is like B
A is as B
A as if B
Stream of consciousness
A narrative mode that imitates the character's process of thinking. It is characteristic for the stream of consciousness to involve loosely connected sentences, sometimes lacking proper syntax and punctuation. There is no clear logic; links between phrases are not logical but associative. It’s a form of interior monologue.
Symbol
In art, an object or image that represents another object or idea by association or similarity; usually, a material object standing for something imperceptible, especially abstract concepts. Symbols are elusive and may convey several meanings.
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships or a Croesus for a rich man.
Trickster
In mythology, religion, folklore, and literature, a mischievous deity or a character who plays pranks, breaks rules, disrupts the order or things. Usually a shape-shifter; brings changes, for good or for bad.
Type
A character who exemplifies a personality trait or an emotion (predominantly, in non-realistic literature), such as Penelope in Greek mythology, the embodiment of conjugal fidelity.
Unreliable narrator
First-person narrator who is unreliable due to the lack of knowledge or experience, by being childish, or insane, or evil, etc. Perceptive readers have an advantage in understanding and can interpret the events for themselves and see dramatic irony.
Verbal irony occurs when people say the opposite of what they mean. … The reader knows that a statement is ironic because of familiarity with the situation or a description of voice, facial, or bodily expressions which show the discrepancy.
Archetype: (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.