Literary Techniques

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Allusion

• Introduction: Four Forms (with examples from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Biblical allusions: types

Epiphanies

Pathetic Fallacy

Rhetoric: Organization and Arument

• Tropes: simile, metaphor, pun, and other techniques
• How to Begin? Sample Opening Paragraphs

Sage-Writing Techniques

Characterization

• Introduction
• Aristotle on characterization
• The family-systems approach

Plot and Narrative Structure

• Introduction
• Narrative "Annexes" in Victorian Fiction
• The Flashback
• Narrative Bonds: Multiple Narrators in the Victorian Novel [Review]
• Point of view
• Point of view and Narrative Distance
• Victorian and Modern Endings

The Protagonist

• Carl Jung's Theory of the Effective Protagonist
• Aristotle on characterization

Setting and Description

• Introduction
• Word Painting
• George Eliot
• Examples from Ann Radcliffe
• Examples from John Ruskin
• Being There: The Role of Word-Painting in Ruskin's Art Criticism
• Word-Painting As Interpretation in Ruskin's Art Criticism

Image, Symbol, and Motif

• The Tropes
• Biblical Types and Literary Symbolism

Theme versus Subject

Style

• "A Matter of Style: A Review of Matthew Sussman's Stylistic Virtue and Victorian Fiction: Form, Ethics and the Novel

Related Materials

• Literary Modes and Genres
• Allegory
• The Grotesque
• Realism
• Satire
• Suspense

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Last modified 9 May 2025