Essential Literary Elements and Narrative Structure

Literary Genres and Their Characteristics

• Narrative Genre: Includes novels and short stories.
• Lyrical Genre: Focuses on poetry and the expression of feelings.
• Dramatic Genre: Involves comedy and tragedy, intended for representation (performance).
• Didactic Genre: Aims to teach or instruct, including fables, essays, and newspaper articles.

Fundamentals of Grammar

Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, indicating aspects such as manner, quantity, time, or place.

Conjunctions: Kinds and Functions

Conjunctions link words, phrases, or clauses. They are categorized by the relationship they establish:

• Copulative (Joining): Express a relationship of addition or sum (e.g., and, e, nor).
• Adversative (Opposing): Express contrasting concepts (e.g., but, yet, although, however).
• Disjunctive (Alternative): Express alternatives or choices (e.g., or, u, whether, well).
• Causal (Reason): Outline the causes or reasons (e.g., because, since, as).
• Conditional (Condition): Pose conditions (e.g., if, provided that, unless).
• Concessive (Difficulty): Indicate difficulty or opposition that does not prevent action (e.g., though, although, even if).
• Comparative (Comparison): Establish a comparison (e.g., as, like, than).
• Consecutive/Illative (Result): Indicate a result or consequence (e.g., therefore, consequently, so).
• Temporal (Time): Indicate the time when an action occurs (e.g., before, after, when).
• Final (Purpose): Indicate the end or purpose (e.g., so that, in order to, for the purpose of).

Interjections and Prepositions

Interjections

Interjections are words or phrases that express sudden feelings and emotions (e.g., Oh!, Wow!, Alas!).

Prepositions

Prepositions link nouns or pronouns to other words in a sentence. Common examples include: a, at, under, with, against, from, during, between, toward, until, by, for, according to, on, upon.

Narrative Structure and Literary Types

Key Elements of the Novel

The fundamental components of a narrative include the Narrator, Characters, Setting, Plot Development, and Reader Interest.

Literary Types of Narrative

• Epic Poems: Verse narratives recounting the deeds of heroes.
• Legends or Myths: Stories that recount the histories of gods and legendary characters.
• Fables: Short narratives, often in verse, featuring personified animals, from which a moral lesson (moral) emerges.
• Short Stories: Brief narratives with few characters and action that moves rapidly toward its conclusion.
• Novels: Comprehensive prose narratives of variable length, recounting imaginary events.

Defining Narrative Concepts

What is Narration?

Narration is the act of recounting real or imaginary events, featuring different characters.

Sentence (Grammar)

The smallest unit of communication that conveys a complete sense and transmits a message.

Subject

The person or thing about which something is said.

Predicate

What is said about the subject.

The Novel Defined

A comprehensive narrative genre in which a narrator tells a story, starring various characters and taking place in different spaces and times.

Case Study: Don Quixote

El Quijote: Alonso Quijano becomes obsessed with reading too many romances. Convinced of being a knight, he prepares himself with all the accessories for a gentleman and leaves his village to seek adventures, defending the weak.

The Structure of the Story (Plot)

The structure refers to how the action unfolds and the procedures the writer uses to generate interest.

Development of Action (Traditional Structure)

• Initial Situation (Approach): The beginning of the story, where the initial situation is raised. We are introduced to the characters, environment, and time, and the relationship between them is established.
• Knot (Rising Action/Climax): The part where the major events are developed, episodes occur, and complications arise, leading up to the climax or peak of the action.
• Outcome (Resolution): The time when problems are solved, arriving at a final situation different from the initial one.

Alternative Narrative Structures

• Starting from the end of the story and then moving backward to the facts that gave rise to it (In media res or flashback).
• Starting in the middle of the action and later completing the story (In media res).

Key Plot Terminology

Action

The set of facts or events through which the story unfolds.

Approach

The beginning of the story which raises the initial situation.

The Knot

The central part where facts are developed and complicated, leading to the climax.

Outcome

The resolution phase where problems are solved.