14+ questions to ask a work of prose fiction

1. Temporal matters:
> in what historical time period is the work set?
> how is the choice of historical moment [specific or general; past, present, or
future] important to narrative?
> what specific temporal facets of the text are important?
> does the action unfold all in one day, or is it spread out over days, weeks, and
years?
> does the narrative unfold in a straightforward, linear, chronologically coherent
way? OR, does the narrative jump from one temporal zone to another?
> what techniques are used to create temporal dislocations?
> foreshadowing
> flashbacks
> the effect of simultaneity
> beginning in medias res
> what happens when the narrative is governed by a “unity” of time
> how has the author used coincidence?

2. Spatial matters:
> in what kinds of physical spaces and places does the action take place?
> interior and/or exterior?
> urban and/or rural?
> public spaces and/or private spaces?
> how are the urban and rural landscapes represented?
> positively or negatively? > what figures of speech are used?

> how does the text invoke or use traditional / culturally-familiar symbolic
landscapes?
> the city > the countryside
> the desert > the “wasteland”
> the “paradise” > the “infernal” place

> how are gender and spatial features of the text (and the historically-specific society
it represents) related?
> where are women featured?
> where do men appear?
> what does the text tell us about the society’s “sphere ideology”?

3. What elements of the text’s form are important to consider?

> is it presented as one continuous narrative?
> if it is evenly sub-divided into segments, parts, or chapters, what was the
basis
of division?
> if the short story is divided into three sections, for example, how do the
sections work in relation to each other?
> are there 30 or 40 chapters in the novel, for example, or five long parts?
> if the text consists of fragments of narrative, how is the arrangement
of fragments relevant to meanings derived from the text?

4. Basic narrative strategies:

 > what kind of narrative has been chosen?
“first-person” narrative
> what happens when fiction and autobiography intersect?
“third-person” omniscient
“third-person” limited omniscience

> is this an epistolary novel [a carefully-arranged exchange of letters among

characters, with no apparent narrative intervention]?

> does the text feature a definite narrator?

> how would you characterize the narrator?
male or female or gender-neutral?
involved in the narrator or distant?

> is the narrator reliable or unreliable?

> what are the special privileges and limitations or each kind of narrator?

> if there is more than one narrator . . . how and why are the choices of narrators
relevant
to the text?

> how are narrative judgments expressed?

> about various characters?
> about events being narrated?
> about social / cultural / historical / ethical issues?

> is the omniscient narrative close to one particular character’s thoughts or actions?
> what are the effects of this focalization

> strategies of address

> is there a narratee, an imagined person to whom the story is being told?
> when and how does the narrator address the reader directly?

5. Dialogue: how, when, and where do characters speak to one another?

> how is dialogue or speech represented typographically?

6. Interiority: how does the text represent characters’ inner thoughts, desires,
emotions?
> whose mind is represented, and how?

> narrative method and interiority

> narrated thoughts [. . . and then she thought to herself]

> narrated interior monologue
> stream of consciousness

> how are characters’ thoughts represented typographically?

7. How would you summarize the “story” being narrated?

8. How has the narrative been structured? Think of beginnings, middles, endings . .
.
> how does the text begin?
> where is the climax of the action?
> how would you characterize the ending?
> is it an example of closure, or is it open-ended?
> is there a particular surprise or “twist” at the end?

9. What are the major characteristics of the narrative style?

How would you describe the diction [vocabulary] utilized in the text?
> monosyllables in relation to polysyllables
> colloquial [slang] and/or "everyday" [or middle] and/or elevated
registers of words

How does the narrative use the following:

> repetition
> alliteration
> personification

What are the most striking similes and metaphors used in the text?
How does the narrative use metonymy?

> does one or more image pattern emerge in the narrative? which characters
are associated with it?

10. Who are the major characters in the narrative?

What are their functions in the text?
> borrowing terms from drama, is the character . . . protagonist / antagonist /
minor figure / blocking character / villain / comic relief /
> is a particular character represented as a social “insider” or “outsider”

How are the following elements relevant or important to characterization: gender,

age, class, race, ethnicity, nationality?

How are femininity and masculinity represented in the text?

11. What major themes emerge from the text?

12. Narrative genres: what kind of prose fiction are you reading?
> parable
> fable
> sketch
> short story
> novella
> novel
> epistolary
> picaresque
> Gothic
> historical
> bildungsroman
 > science fiction
> other?

13. Narrative modes: how does this particular work of prose use elements or facets of the
following:
> tragedy
> comedy
> romance
> satire

14. How would you define the following as they relate to the text you are reading?
> realism
> naturalism
 13+ questions to ask a poetic text
Remember that poetry is language in performance ... language that is patterned. Consider
the physical [aural, rhythmical] as well as the intellectual/ emotional dimensions of a text.

1. Formally, how does it look on the page?

> stichic [one line follows another without any formal
or mathematical grouping of the lines]
> strophic [lines are arranged in stanzas]

2. Is there a regular stanzaic pattern? couplets ... tercets ... quatrains ...

3. Are regular metrical patterns employed? (Is it free verse?)

> we are measuring syllables per line and stresses per line
> in English, the basic “foot” is iambic [an iamb has two syllables; the second is
stressed]

4. Can you find effective use of caesuras [pauses]?

5. What is the relationship between end-stopped lines and run-on lines [enjambment]?

6. Are there identifiable rhyme patterns? What is being emphasized in the rhyme words?
> are these examples of masculine [monosyllabic] or feminine
[polysyllabic] rhymes?

7. How would you describe the diction [vocabulary] utilized?

> monosyllables in relation to polysyllables
> colloquial [slang] and/or "everyday" [or middle] and/or
elevated registers of words

8. Does the text use alliteration effectively?

9. Does the text use consonance?

10. Are you aware of assonance patterns?

11. Verbal mimesis: Who is the speaker? Does the speaker have a
definite gender? How is the speaking voice represented?

12. How would you define the subject matter of the text?
> is it conventional or unconventional?
> is it an example of a conventional subject, but an unconventional approach?

13. How would you define the text generically?

> traditional hierarchy of genres: epic/tragic drama, ode, elegy, satire, sonnet, lyric