План анализа на II семестр

Linguo-stylistic analysis.

1.   Introduce the information about the author (his created works, the main problems passing through his literary works).

2.    Define the genre to which the story or the novel under study belongs: a) social – it studies the effect of social conditions at a given time and place upon humanlife and conduct (“The adventure of Oliver Twist” by Dickens), b) psychological – it is concerned mainly with the mental and emotional lives of the characters (Ex. “Idiot” by Dostoevsky), c) detective – here a specific problem especially murder is solved (“Agatha Christie’s stories”), d)historical – here the events and the characters are drawn from the past (“War and Piece” by Tolstoy), e) science-fiction - it deals with advances in science and technology and their influence on human beings (“We” by Zamyatin), f) fantastic – it has no connection with reality (“The World’s war”), g) a documentary story. It reproduces real events as close as possible and it involves the reader in some vital issue of the moment.

3.    Define the style of a story or a novel: a) belles-letters style (poetry, emotive prose and drama), b) the publicistic style (feature articles in newspapers and magazines), c) the newspaper style (brief news items, newspapers’ headings, notices, advertisements), d) the scientific prose style (style of humanitarian sciences, style of exact sciences, science of popular – scientific prose), e) the official document style (the language style of diplomatic documents, business documents, of legal documents and military documents).

4.   Form of narration. The story is wholly a narrative, a description, a dialogue, an interior monologue, digression (отступление). It is mostly a dialogue and partially a narrative.Digression is insertion of material that has no immediate relation to the theme or action. It may be critical, philosophic or lyrical.

5.     Setting. The description of physical background, the place and time of the story, the significant items surrounding the actions and the characters.

6.    The subject of a literary work. The central conflict which the writer intends to present in his work or the general topic of which the particular story is illustrated.

7.    Plot summary. The general narration in the Present Indefinite Tense or use  -ing forms for the past tense forms. The text can be divided into 3-4 parts. Give the titles for each part of a summary. Define the climax of a story. The climax is the decisive point on which the fate of the characters and the final action depend; the forces in the conflict reach the highest point of intensity.

8.   The composition of the story consists of exposition, complication, climax, denouement and ending. Exposition - введение, Complication – завязка, Climax - кульминационный момент, Denouement - развязка, Ending - конец. Surprise ending – it is an unexpected turn of the plot not made clear until the end of the story.

9.    The reader’s opinion on the plot and composition. a) In what vein does the author present the story? (Is he emotional, dry or factional?) b) Is the action fast or slow moving? c) On what note does the story end? d) Is the end clear-cut and conclusive or probably it leaves room for the reader’s suggestion? e) Does the author keep the reader in suspense?

10.  The author’s tone. His attitude to what he is presenting and to his characters. If the character tells his own story or the author narrates his story himself that is the first-person narration. If the author doesn’t comment or interpret what he presents, so he is the author-observer and he treats his material objectively, so the tone is neutral. If the author tells what happens with complete liberty and goes into minds of his characters giving his own comments, the reader meets omniscient (всеведущий) author who treats his material subjectively. The tone may be ironical, sad, sarcastic, lyrical, enigmatic, tragic, dramatic, depressive, etc. 

11.  Character drawing. a) Does the author give a psychological insight of his characters? b) What main problem does the character face? (If it is a conflict with idea, society or with himself, etc) c) Does the author employ the dialogue through which the characters are better portrayed or interior monologue to under the thoughts and feelings of the characters? Or it may be the stream of consciousness (поток сознания) which gives the reader the impression of the unending and unseen flow of ideas, feelings and memories in a person mind. What images or cluster of images land the story a lyrical, humorous tone? Are these images genuine, poetic, fresh, hackneyed, trite or dead? Do the characters change in course of the story as a result of their personal experience or because of the influence of other characters or circumstances? What does the author employ to reader the thoughts and feelings of his characters? Does he reveal him directly or indirectly? What traits of character are revealed by the author? Does the author sympathize to his characters? Does he remain aloof and detached or does he feel for them?

12.  Choice of words. According to the stylistic structure we can speak about neutral, colloquial and bookish words.

13.  Stylistic devices. Lexical, syntactical, phonetic.

14.  Appraisal part. Here you have to express your general idea on the whole author’s style.