Week Five
Dr. Stephen Ogden
LIBS 7001
1
Common Sense Approach to
Definition & Classification
• There is, fortunately, a practical approach to
the type of “problems” detailed in the articles
for this week, for those of us who are not (or,
not only) academics.
• A common-sense practice: assume a stable
definition (e.g. “truck”), but see any
uncertainty or issue as simply a matter of
classification:
– “does this vehicle belong in the category ‘truck’ ?
2
DESCRIPTION
•
creates sharply etched word pictures of objects, persons, scenes,
events, situations
•
in work/personal/academic settings, can describe
•
»
a patient’s condition for a chart
»
a product in an advertisement
»
site conditions in a report
can
» create a mood
» stimulate understanding
» lead to action
3
Two Types of Description
Functional
Emotional
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“just the facts”: denotative
purpose: to explain, clarify
allegedly objective, observed from a
distance
common in lab reports, formal reports
logical order of ideas
perspective: description of parts,
materials, functions
•
•
•
•
impressionistic: connotative
purpose: to convey ideas, moods,
impressions
impressionistic, subjective
common in everyday life, and in artistic
writing
highly variable order of ideas
different perspectives possible
4
Elements of Description
•
To help drive home your points vividly in an essay
or speech, carefully use these five elements of
description:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Sensory Impression
Dominant Impression
Vantage Point
Selection of Details
Arrangement of Details
5
Sensory Impression, cont.
• appropriate words / comparisons , cont.
– “… the kind of woman who plays with a full deck of
credit cards…” (Ehrenreich, 10)
– an egg that “starts to disgorge a cloud of white stuff
like a medium at an old-fashioned séance” (Nabokov,
38)
• blend several sense impressions
– “Ah…fresh bread” (last frame of Pekar essay)
– evokes sense of touch (shape, heat), sight, smell
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2. Dominant Impression
• an overall mood or feeling, such as joy, anger, terror, or
distaste
• may be identified or left unnamed
• can be developed throughout the description
– “Yet, the overriding sensation I had was of always being out of
place.” (Said, 37)
– “Not long ago a former friend and soon-to-be acquaintance
called me up to tell me how busy she was.” (Ehrenreich, 9)
• may be influenced by vantage-point
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3. Vantage Point - two types
• fixed: observer remains in one place
– “Boil water in a saucepan (bubbles mean it is boiling!)”
(Nabokov, 38)
• moving: observer views things from different
positions
– e.g., E. Said moving through time:
– “In my early adolescence….Now I have divined that…”
(Said, p. 39)
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4. Selection of Details
• A good writer selects details pointing toward the mood
or feeling s/he is trying to create.
• Exclusion is as important as inclusion.
• How does a writer suggest stillness or nothingness?
• What are the implications of leaving out certain
details? Are there limits to a writer’s creative license?
What’s a writer’s ethical responsibility when using
description & narration?
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5. Arrangement of Details
• to guide reader and fulfill purpose, use a clear
pattern or organization - e.g.,
– spatial
– sequential
– contrast
• can start with a striking central feature
– Said’s discussion of the 2 halves of his name
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NARRATION
• relates series of real or imagined events
• Narration, a story, can
– tell what happened
– delve into motives
– offer lessons and insights (but doesn’t have to)
– do all of the above.
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Narrative:
Examples of Non-Literary Uses
• Used at work, at home, at
school: e.g.,
– details in a lab or
inspection report
• Any report is a form of
narration
– development of a
research project
– history of an employee’s
work problems
• Both by the employee
and the employer
– Meeting minutes writeup
• Politics: ‘narrative’ is
now an essential tool
– Create a partisan story
about society, selves &
opponents
• Journalism:
– news stories are forms of
narrative
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Elements of Narration
•
Six elements together produce strong narration:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
purpose
action
conflict
point of view
key events
dialogue
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1. Purpose
• can be stated or unstated but always shapes the writing
• may
– tell what happened
– establish a useful fact
– delve into motives
– offer lessons or insights
Not all “stories” have a moral or teach a lesson.
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2. Action
• plays a central role in narrative by presenting, not just
suggesting, something that happens
– suggested (or reported):
• “Time seemed forever against me.” (Said, 38)
– represented directly:
• “ They went to Michigan Militia meetings. They
blew up ‘things’ in the backyard.” (Moore, 84)
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Action, cont.
• Think visually (cinematically) when writing a
narrative.
– “…a passage on the piano might cause a sudden
transformation of her face, a dramatic elevation in her tone, a
breathtakingly wide opening of arms, as she took me in with
‘Bravo, Edward’…” (Said, 38)
– “With a small spoon tap-tap in a circle and then pry open the
lid of the shell.” (Nabokov, 38)
• Many experiences are “action:” e.g., thinking,
feeling, deciding
– “They also serve who only stand and wait.” (John Milton, “On
His Blindness,” 1652)
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3. Conflict
•
•
Real, imagined, anticipated conflicts shape our lives; see
Gk. agon - meaning “contest”
Some varieties of conflict:
1. between an individual and outside circumstances:
Nabokov’s eggs & egg-cooker
2. between 2 group members: Said & mother
3. between__________________________
4. between__________________________
5. within____________________________
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4. Point of View - types
1.
First person: one of the participants tells what happened.
– uses I, me, mine, we, ours
– limited to what that person knows; narrator
can be unreliable because of incomplete
knowledge
2.
Second-person: less often used
– you is used or understood
– imperative & directive; or conversational
3.
Third-person: distanced “narrator” recalls.
– uses he, she, it, they
– narrator can be omniscient, intrusive, or
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5. Key Events
• Strong narratives are built around key events
bearing directly on its purpose. E.g.
– Pekar’s paralleling the progress of his thoughts and physical
progress towards the bakery, where a resolution occurs on
both levels (“quandry” resolved, AND loaf of bread obtained)
– Said’s discussion of his mother’s death as a key event, which
helps to remind him of both his childhood and his own
mortality.
– consider “narratives” of election candidates
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6. Dialogue
• Conversation animates narrative:
– indirect/reported - narrator strongly controls presentation
and mood; reader is distanced from the scene
• “..called me up to tell me how busy she was.” (Ehre., 9)
– direct - generally (but not always) more vivid; also leaves
more scope for reader interpretation:
• narrator in strong control: “… the days when ‘Let’s have lunch’
meant something other than ‘I’ve got more important things to
do than to talk to you now’…” (E,9)
• integrated into narrative: “’Help me to sleep, Edward’…” (Said,
39, in which he’s both character and narrator)
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For the narration readings (Ignatieff, Fraser,
Mukherjee), consider these questions:
1. What is the author's purpose?
2. Where & how does the author use specific descriptive and
narrative techniques?
3. Narration often produces a personal, "gut" reader response.
Critically analyze your own response to these essays:
1. What exactly was your response?
2. What factors (e.g.: your experiences, knowledge, the
author's story, descriptive & narrative techniques)
might have combined to produce your response?
3. How did you transcend your "gut reaction" to gain a
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more objective reading of the text?