...Genre classifies movies, novels, music and literature of similar style in the same category. Genre acts as a navigation tool to guide the audience and readers to select literature according to their preference. Science fiction is the most relevant genre of the 21st century because it contains a message regarding the advances society is making in the fields of science and technology. It is a genre that has its roots in the 19th century where new inventions made the audience curious about the future and new technology. The elements of the science fiction genre are an alternate setting, alienated characters and scientific technology. An excellent example of this prominent genre, science fiction, is the Hugo and Nebula award winning novel, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K....
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...1. What is literature? - literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter. 2. What are the genres of literature? - The classic major genres of Literature are: Drama Romance Satire Tragedy Comedy Tragicomedy - Common genres: fiction Subsets of genres, known as common genres, have developed from the archetypes of genres in written expression. The common genres included in recommended Literature from kindergarten through grade twelve by the California Department of Education are defined as:[1] Drama – stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children Fantasy – fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s)...
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...Definition: What is literature? Why do we read it? Why is literature important? Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction. Generally, most people have their own ideas of what literature is. When enrolling in a literary course at university, you expect that everything on the reading list will be “literature”. Similarly, you might expect everything by a known author to be literature, even though the quality of that author's work may vary from publication to publication. Perhaps you get an idea just from looking at the cover design on a book whether it is “literary” or “pulp”. Literature then, is a form of demarcation, however fuzzy, based on the premise that all texts are not created equal. Some have or are given more value than others. Most forays into the question of “what is literature” go into how literature works with the reader, rather than how the author set about writing it. It is the reception, rather than the writing, which is the object of enquiry. Largely, what we call “literature” is often a subjective value judgment, and naturally, value judgments, like literary tastes, will change. Etymologically, literature has to do with letters, the written as opposed to the spoken word...
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...characterized by similarities in composition and style, is a term used to discuss literature, music, art, and film. It is particularly useful in critical applications because it distinguishes a work within a context of similar works. In film, we are familiar with certain broad genre categories such as horror, science-fiction, romance, or drama. Understanding genre helps provide the viewer with certain expectations about the film. For instance, the film The Conjuring trailer (Version 2) is of the horror genre and thus can be discussed in context with other horror films. More specifically, it is of the sub-genre, supernatural horror, so it can be discussed in context with, say, The Exorcist trailer. Making this distinction enables the audience to situate their reaction within a particular framework. ENG 225 WEEK 2 DQ GENRE THEORY To purchase this visit following link: http://www.activitymode.com/product/eng-225-week-2-dq-genre-theory/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@ACTIVITYMODE.COM ENG 225 WEEK 2 DQ GENRE THEORY ENG 225 Week 2 DQ Genre Theory Genre Theory. Genre, a category of artistic production characterized by similarities in composition and style, is a term used to discuss literature, music, art, and film. It is particularly useful in critical applications because it distinguishes a work within a context of similar works. In film, we are familiar with certain broad genre categories such as horror, science-fiction, romance, or drama. Understanding genre helps provide the viewer with...
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...It [science fiction] is untrustworthy as a source of "facts," since these may be wrong, or at least out of date. There is nothing wrong, however, with science fiction as a way of arousing interest in science...it doesn't matter whether the scientific background of a science fiction story is accidentally wrong through ignorance, deliberately wrong through the exigencies of the plot, or simply out-of-date through the progress of science. If the story is interesting, it can be used...that's the educational value of science fiction; that is what makes it a learning device. It stimulates curiosity and the desire to know. "Learning Device," IASFM, August 1979 Asimov on Science Fiction, pg.37 It is change, continuing change inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the word as it will be - and naturally this means that there must be an accurate perception of the world as it will be. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our Everyman, must take on a science fictional way of thinking, whether he likes it or not or even whether he knows it or not. Only so can the deadly problems of today be solved. "My Own View," The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Holdstock, ed., 1978 Asimov on Science Fiction, pg 5. What's importance about science fiction, even crucial, is the very thing that gave it birth-the perception of change through...
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...applies their inferiority in social life. However, they tend to be motivated to overcome feeling of inferiority by building relationship with others to get their life’s goal. Sometimes, the goal of life will become difficult thing to be reached since there are many problems in human life. The problems in human life cannot be separated from thinking, feeling, and acting. Those are actually bringing up influence for the literary work. Therefore, literature closely related to psychology in human being including experiences facing the life. A work of literature is created not only to entertain but also to convey values and meanings to human life which can be discovered in the problem and conflict. The psychological type discussed about the psychology, focusing about the development of personality by Sigmund Freud. A work contains of symbols of idea, symbols of image, describes the action that can be done in real life, it can also contains of psychological portrayal of mood or personality character. A work of literature always contains the psychological side...
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...Mars: The Continuing Frontier in Science Fiction Just as, early American settlers viewed land West of the Mississippi as, ‘free land as far as the eye can see’, early science fiction writers created a Mars that was ‘ripe for the taking’ in their many stories of colonization. The Frontier Myth is from the idea that early settlers viewed uninhabited land as free to whoever wants it, a first come, first served mentality attached with unlimited opportunity. Well, as my dear father told me long ago, nothing in life is free. Of course the Frontier Myth doesn’t account for who or what was there before the ones doing the taking. Therein lies the problem. Or for many early science fiction writers- a great story idea. Fuelled by real scientific observation, starting with Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and his 1877 “discovery” of canals on the planet Mars (which later was rejected as part of the natural landscape by better technology) to the 1960’s and 1970’s NASA programs Mariner and Viking. Specifically because of the real science behind Mars exploration, authors like; Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip, Greg Bear, Moving Mars, and Kim Stanley Robinson with Red Mars, all explored very scientific, but humanistic stories with themes of the political, economical and social effects of colonization on Mars. One interesting aspect of Mars literature is the use of environmental similarities of globalization here on Earth as a reflection in the colonization of Mars stories....
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...For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). An illustration from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing afantastical game of croquet. Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc. (e.g.,biographies, histories). Contents [hide] * 1 Types of fiction * 1.1 Realistic fiction * 1.2 Non-realistic fiction * 1.3 Semi-Fiction * 2 Elements of fiction * 2.1 Plot * 2.2 Exposition * 2.3 Foreshadowing * 2.4 Rising action * 2.5 Climax * 2.6 Falling action * 2.7 Resolution * 2.8 Conflict * 2.8.1 Types of conflict * 2.8.1.1 Person vs. self * 2.8.1.2 Person vs. person * 2.8.1.3 Person vs. society * 2.8.1.4 Person vs. nature * 2.8.1.5 Person vs. supernatural * 2.8.1.6 Person vs. machine/technology * 2.9 Character * 2.10 Methods of developing characters * 2.11 Symbolism * 2.12 Metaphor * 3 Types of plots * 3.1 Chronological order * 3.2 Flashback * 3.3 Setting...
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...RAY DOUGLAS BRADBURY He was an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet. Although the genre of many of Ray Bradbury’s stories is fiction, he rejected being categorized as a science fiction author, claiming that the only story he has ever written that is a science fiction story is Fahrenheit 451. BIOGRAPHY Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. He enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in Waukegan, which he later incorporated into several semi-autobiographical novels and short stories. Bradbury's life revolved around magic, magicians, circuses, and other such fantasies. He decided to become a writer at about age 12 or 13. He later said that he made this decision to "live forever" through his fiction. His first official pay as a writer came for contributing a joke to George Burns's Burns & Allen Show. In 1937, he became a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, whose help enabled him to publish four issues of his own science-fiction fan magazine, or "fanzine," Futuria Fantasia. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. His formal education ended there because they had no money to send him to college due to the Depression. However, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942. He published his first short story in a fan magazine in 1938. Bradbury says that he learned to write by recalling his own experiences. Many...
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...“Science Fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it’s the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself” (Bradbury and Ross). This quote expresses Ray Bradbury’s love for what he wrote, and why he wrote in a genre that wasn’t respected until he changed that. Bradbury was an American author who wrote in the Great Depression to early twenty first century era. He wrote primarily science fiction, but he also wrote poetry, fantasy, drama, mystery fiction, nonfiction, and a few children’s books. He is best known for his short story collection titled The Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury became a distinguished author by the influence of other great authors, life experiences like publishing his own fan magazine, as well as his own cutting-edge style, these commodities granted Bradbury with many well-deserved awards. Reading the works of great authors influenced Bradbury’s writing that shaped the type of writing he did in his time. Bradbury said himself that his exceptional writing skills came from “stuffing myself [Bradbury] constantly with the works of Shakespeare, Pope,...
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...previously appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Ladies Home Journal, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Collier’s Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, Esquire, Venture, and Cosmopolitan. The title story appeared in Playboy magazine the same year the collection was released. Eleven of the stories were reprinted from Vonnegut’s 1961 short story collection Canary in a Cat House (Vonnegut). This paper will focus on four futuristic science fiction stories from the collection. These stories, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, “Harrison Bergeron”, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and “Unready to Wear” all share a dystopian science fiction theme. Science and technology are supposed to make the world a better place, but instead, Vonnegut concludes they only create a new set of problems (Farrell, “Science and Technology in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut”). Television is often a target of satire in much of his fiction from the 1950’s. He describes it as desensitizing and numbing while deceiving the masses (Werlock). Vonnegut uses satire and pessimism throughout these dystopian stories. Satire is a special form of literature that seeks to uncover ridiculous ideas and customs in a society (Mowery). Each story portrays a totalitarian government that proposes an irrational solution to genuine problems. Vonnegut uses dystopian fiction and his aversion to science, technology, and television to expose what he feels are foolish ideas and weaknesses in our society...
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...Renegar, Valerie R. and George N. Dionisopoulos. "The Dream of a Cyberpunk Future? Entelechy, Dialectical Tension, and the Comic Corrective in William Gibson's Neuromancer." Southern Communication Journal, vol. 76, no. 4, Sept. 2011, pp. 323-341. Print. We argue the comic frame, as described by Kenneth Burke, can serve as a vehicle for critical self-reflection and social critique. William Gibson's Neuromancer is a work of cyberpunk science fiction that details a future that closely resembles the present. The book exemplifies this process of encouraging self-reflection because it calls the trends of the present into question by imagining what kind of future they will construct. Gibson's future is simultaneously exciting and devastating. The dialectical tension between these oppositional ideas opens up a discursive space for audiences to begin the process of critical self-reflection about the technological trends of...
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...stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, theplot, the relation to reality, the characterization, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced to literary prose in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history. ------------------------------------------------- Definition[edit] Gerard ter Borch, young man reading a book c.1680, the format is that of a French period novel. | Madame de Pompadourspending her afternoon with a book, 1756 – religious and scientific reading has a differenticonography. | The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct "literary" prose, specific media requirements (the use of paper and print), a characteristic subject matter that creates intimacy, and length can be seen as features that developed with the Western (and modern) market of fiction. The separation of the field of literary fiction from the field of historical narrative fueled the evolution of these features in the last 400 years. A fictional narrative[edit] Fictionality is the most commonly cited feature to distinguish novels from historiography. From a historical perspective this can be a problematic criterion. Throughout the early modern period, authors of historical accounts in narrative form would often include inventions which...
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...MECN1001: Critical Thinking Component Science Fiction Course reader Semester 2, 2015 “If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic.” – Ursula Le Guin Lecturer and course co-ordinator: Ms Linda Mabin Linda.Mabin@wits.ac.za CM, 3rd Floor, East Wing, ADU (011) 717-7064 MECN1001: Critical Thinking Course Outline Science Fiction is a genre that is growing in currency around the world as a literature of cognitive estrangement, and one that has immense universal value because of this. To distance oneself from the ascendant structures of power is to perceive the world anew, filled with potential for change. For this reason, Science Fiction is a literature of immense value for a country such as South Africa. Approaching the challenges of a nation such as this requires an imagination trained to be meticulous in its logic, but unrestrained by the restrictions of present reality. Each tutorial activity is crafted to correlate with the concerns of the lecture material. Tutorials transpose the fundamental concerns dealt with in the subject matter of the lectures and ‘activate’ these ideas by having students demonstrate their knowledge not just in the form of individual written exercises, but through the vitally necessary process of engaging their tutors and peers in structured discussion. It is thus clear that the success of a tutorial is dependent on student participation, and as clear that the success of a tutorial depends on students being intrigued...
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...Blade Runner Critique ENG225: Introduction to Film (GSK1442C) Professor Brad Waltman November 16, 2014 The film Blade Runner is an outstanding example of the science fiction genre of film. The film uses it’s futuristic setting, combined with the plot of a policeman hunting down illegal and violent androids, to set the stage for a truly thought provoking film. The viewer is exposed to new ideas about morality and the boundaries of technology. Blade Runner is widely regarded as a pioneer film in the science fiction subgenre of “cyberpunk” and its dystopian style has influenced dozens, if not hundreds of films since it’s release. The style, message and distinct futuristic darkness of Blade Runner is an outstanding part of the science fiction genre and a fascinating example of movie making. Blade Runner was released in 1982 and much of its distinct personality comes from the unique people involved in the film, both in front of, and behind the camera. Ridley Scott directed the film and is revolves around one of his favorites elements, artificial intelligence. Blade Runner is regarded is a Scott classic, and displays the elements that audiences expect from one of his films. Jordan Cronenweth worked as the film’s cinematographer and was regarded as one of the best in the industry, even years after his death. Cronenweth’s dark and moody work provided much of the noire and intrigue of Blade Runner. The film stared Harrison Ford as the not too heroic main character...
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