The document discusses different types of fiction and how to analyze literature through close reading. It contrasts commercial fiction, which aims to entertain, with literary fiction, which uses serious artistic techniques to broaden understanding of life. Close reading involves a slower, more thoughtful evaluation of how and why authors use specific structures, characters, language, and other elements to present their stories and convey meaning.

1. Art is a lie that leads to the truth. - Picasso AP English IV Understanding and Evaluating Literary Fiction through Close Reading

2. Why Read? Entertainment Understanding

3. Entertainment Enjoy stories that allow us to “escape.” Distract from stressful lives. Relieve tedium.

4. Understanding Expands or refines thinking on a significant topic. Quickens our sense of life.

5. Categories Commercial fiction Literary fiction

6. Commercial Fiction Written to make money: legal thrillers, romance novels, short stories in popular magazines Allows reader to escape tedium and stress Takes reader away from the real world: temporarily allows the reader to forget his troubles

7. Literary Fiction Written by someone with serious artistic intentions Intends to broaden, deepen, and sharpen the reader’s awareness of life. Plunges reader more deeply into the real world, enabling reader to understand life’s difficulties and to empathize with others

8. Commercial Literary Pleasure Junk food Take reader out of the real world Focus: action Pleasure plus Understanding Gourmet dinner Place reader in the real world Focus: technique

9. Expectations of Commercial Fiction A sympathetic hero or heroine A defined plot in which something exciting is always happening A strong element of suspense A happy ending A general theme that affirms conventional views of the world

10. Expectations of Literary Fiction Expect the unexpected. “…instead of a happy or conventional ending in which everything is tied together in a neat package, a literary work may end in an unsettling or even unresolved way, forcing us to examine our own expectations about the story itself, about the way the story is told, and about our ingrained, perhaps unconscious way of viewing a certain topic or idea they may have been challenged or changed by what we have read.”

11. Close Reading Reading effectively involves evaluation what you read. Adopt a slower, more thoughtful approach as you read. Note “how” and “why” an author uses a specific way to present his story: structure, character, language, etc.

12. Remember The Macarena? When I read I call it Macarena Finding clues is really, really Buena Find meaning, illuminating So I can come to understanding Try with me, strive with me And if your good you score a five with me. Find metaphors, similes in language Use the senses, what you see, what you hear Symbols, illusions, tone, and theme Yeah, Macarena