Short Stories, Part 1: Classic Short Story and the Elements of Storytelling
In this unit we will examine the art of story-telling as a modern form of myth-making and legend-crafting. We have examined the fundamentals of myth, legend, and folktale in our previous unit; now, we are going to take the ideas and fundamentals of composition we found in these prototypical short-narratives and wisdom-tales and see how those elements fit together with newer techniques and ideas to make the genre of “short story” we enjoy today. In parts 2 and 3 of our introduction to short-story, we will examine modern short-story in both written and visual media, recognizing television and cinema as forms of artistic story-telling in their own right that have come to maturity in the late 20th and early 21st century.
1. The Art of Story, Form and Structure: “The Joys of Swordplay” by ZhuangZi & “The Model Millionaire” by Oscar Wilde
In this section, we will read two very short stories. Nether one is that complex and neither one is profound; however they demonstrate well some of the basic components of story composition. We will spend a lot of time over the next weeks, months, and years talking about “composition.” Composition is, in the most general sense, how something is put together, and, if something is “composed,” it implied that the thing has been put together well in some regard (logically, creatively, provocatively). The way something is composed often depends on its ultimate goal. If the goal of the thing is to confuse and obfuscate, then it is good if its composition, to some extent, is confusing or obfuscated; contrastingly, if the goal of the thing is to be clear and communicative, then the composition should likely be concise, precise, and logically organized.
These two stories present archytypical stories with six archytypical components: they have an expostion, inciting incident, rising action (progressive complications), a dilemma, a twist or a climax, and a resolution (often called the “denouement“). These are the six elements of plot that we first encountered when we examined “The Hero’s Jounrey”. Now, however, we are seeing these same elements play out in smaller form: the short story.
As you read, note how these six plot elements unfold in these two stories.
“The Joy of Swordplay”
by ZhuangZi (Chuang-Tzu or “Master Zhuang”)
Though primarily known as a philosophical work, the Zhuangzi is regarded as one of the greatest literary works in Chinese history. A masterpiece of both philosophical and literary skill, it has significantly influenced major Chinese writers and poets for more than 2000 years from the Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) to the present. The fables and anecdotes in the text attempt to illustrate the falseness of human distinctions between good and bad, large and small, life and death, and human and nature. While other ancient Chinese philosophers focused on moral and personal duty, Zhuangzi promoted carefree wandering and becoming one with “the Way” (Dào 道) by following nature.
ZhuangZi ( 莊子 or Chuang-Tzu or “Master Zhuang”) is from the late 4th century BC (about 2,400 years ago). He was a pivotal figure in the classical Chinese philosophy of Daoism. The Zhuangzi as a book is a compilation of Master Zhuang’s and others’ writings at the pinnacle of a philosophically subtle period in China between the 5th and 3rd century BCE, beginning with the founder of Daoism, LaoZi (老子 or Lao-Tzu or “Master Lao”). This period coincided with the two and a half centuries commonly known as The Warring States Period (481–221 BCE), a time of significant division and violence in China.
In response to the centuries of warmongering, philosophers arose in China that attempted to propose new models of leadership and governance; these philosophers largely taught about the qualities of a virtue. The two major divisions in this philosophical period were between what became the Confucians, founded by Confucius (孔夫子 or Kǒngzǐ or “Master Kong”), whose philosophy oriented around the organization of social structure according to familial relationships, and Daoism (Taoism), founded by LaoZi , whose philosophy oriented around nature and the organization of government, society, and personal virtue according to the natural world.
The ZhuangZi sits firmly in the ideals and tradition of Daoism, being the second foundational text of the philosophy along with the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) by Lao-Tzu. and thus advocates naturalism and non-action as virtues. Zhuangzi’s prose style is its own distinctive literary treasure. Typically short, pithy, and amusing, his tales are both accessible and philosophically seductive—they both entertain and make you think. A respite from the dry moralizing of Confucians, the text was always a favorite of the Chinese intellectual, literati class. The Zhuangzi also attracts modern Western readers with its thoroughgoing naturalism, philosophical subtlety, and sophisticated humor, all set in a strikingly different conceptual scheme and its distant, exotic context.
Think about the message of the story of “The Joy of Swordplay” as presented by/in ZhuangZi and the ideas presented by Lao-Tzu in the Dao De Jing (道德經) excerpted below. The philosopher ZhuangZi was greatly influenced by the teachings of his predecessor Lao-Tzu (c. 5th century BCE).
道德經: Dao De Jing (“The Method of Virtue and Its Efficacy”)
Chapter 66
江海所以能為百谷王者，以其善下之，故能為百谷王。
是以聖人欲上民，必以言下之；欲先民，必以身後之。
是以聖人處上而民不重，處前而民不害。是以天下樂推而不厭。
以其不爭，故天下莫能與之爭。
That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive the homage and tribute of all the valley streams, is their skill in being lower than they; – it is thus that they are kings of them all.
So it is that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person behind them.
In this way though he has his place above them, men do not feel his weight, nor though he has his place before them, do they feel it an injury to them.
Therefore all in the world delight to exalt him and do not weary of him. Because he does not strive, no one finds it possible to strive with him.
Chapter 69
用兵有言：吾不敢為主，而為客；不敢進寸，而退尺。
是謂行無行；攘無臂；扔無敵；執無兵。禍莫大於輕敵，輕敵幾喪吾寶。
故抗兵相加，哀者勝矣。
A master of the art of war has said, ‘I do not dare to be the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the defensive).
I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a foot.’ This is called marshalling the ranks where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.
There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war. To do that is near losing (the gentleness) which is so precious. Thus it is that when opposing weapons are (actually) crossed, he who deplores (the situation) conquers.
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. He was one of the most popular playwrights in London during the late 19th century. He is best remembered today for his singular novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the circumstances of his unjust criminal conviction, imprisonment, and forced hard labor for “gross indecency” for consensual homosexual acts with his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. This imprisonment was likely the cause of his significantly diminished physical and mental health upon his release; he died a few years after finishing his prison sentence in 1897.
Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day and is an iconic LBGTQ+ figure to this day, representing an early martyr for the social injustices of sodomy laws (i.e., laws prohibiting homosexual lifestyles).
HOMEWORK: Now that you have read “The Art of Swordplay” and “The Model Millionaire” and thought about the basic structure of narrative, try out the longer story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Answer all the reading comprehension questions after the story and think about where in the story are the exposition, inciting incident, rising action (progressive complications), a dilemma, a twist/climax, and a resolution (often called the “denouement“). You might find in “The Necklace” that one of these pieces is conspicuously missing. Which one of the six parts is missing from this story? While it is missed, what does this add to the effect of the story?
2. The Art of Story, Narrative and Perspective: “Charles” by Shirley Jackson & “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan
Often it is important to consider the perspective of the narrator and/or characters of the story to fully grasp the implications of the narrative. For example, the perspective of a woman today might be quite different from the perspective of a woman 200 years ago. The perspective of the average person in the United States today might be quite different from the perspective of the average person during the Middle Ages over 1000 years ago. Sometimes such perspective does not matter to the story; however, more complex and sophisticated types of narrative often incorporate this aspect into the fabric of the story. Neglecting consideration of these unique voices might cause us to totally miss the point of the story being told or cause us to not see the more nuances aspects of the ideas under consideration.
Point of view is what the speaker, narrator, author, or character can see, understand, and know from their perspective. This can change dramatically depending on who the character is, their own background, the author’s intentions, and the character’s reliability, all of which the reader should be considering as they read for this will influence the interpretation of the work. What the story’s narrator sees and then relays to the reader is going to influence one’s perception of the story. Skilled writers use various points of view to their advantage, influencing the reader in different ways, perhaps even intentionally confusing, misinforming, or biasing them by what information the narrator has or does not have.
In one poem or story, the speaker might be the protagonist of the story – the hero or the person the reader is meant to root for as the narrative plays out. However, the “point of view” could originate from an omniscient story-teller outside the story itself, someone who knows all the details, all the charters’ thoughts and feelings. Even more interestingly, the point of view could be construed to be the reader themselves. There are three main types of point of view. They are first-person, second-person, and third-person.
First Person Point of View
First Person Point of View
The first person narrative perspective is a literary style in which the narrator tells a story about him or herself. The first-person perspective could be the writer, such as in memoirs or autobiographies; however, the narrator could be a character within a story. The first person narrative perspective involves using first-person pronouns and a personal account of events throughout a story, novel, or poem. The first person singular pronouns are “I,” “me,” “my,” and the plural is “our” and “we.”
Why Do Writers Use First Person Perspective?
First person’s very personal perspective allows readers access to a character’s innermost thoughts and focuses on, almost entirely, what that character thinks and does. This is especially effective if the main character is going through something emotionally stressful or experiencing events that readers find engaging.
Because this kind of perspective comes from an individual – whether the poet themselves, a child, a mentally ill patient, a dying woman, or even an animal, object, or creature from another realm, or any combination of those – the variations are endless. There are countless ways a writer can imbue a character with features and beliefs that bleed through into their understanding of a scenario.
A reader should always be conscious of the fact that characters in literature are also subject to their understanding of the world. A writer might employ an unreliable narrator. This is someone whose opinions about the world are clearly influenced by mental instability, overwrought, consuming emotions, or any other mind-altering experience.
Example of First Person in Poetry
Because I could not stop for Death
by Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –Second Person Point of View
Second Person Point of View
The second person narrative perceptive is a literary style in which the narrator tells a story about “you”. This ‘you’ may be ‘you’ the reader or ‘you’ someone the author knows, describing their actions as if explaining what happened in the past or will happen in the future.
The second-person perceptive involves using second-person pronouns and a more distant accounting of events than the first-person perspective allows for. This is the least common of the three narrative perspectives, but there are examples in poems, novels, and short stories to explore. The second-person pronouns are “you,” “your,” and “yours” and are usually used to speak directly to the reader and draw them into the story.
Why Do Writers Use Second Person Perspective?
Although it is rare to do so, writers sometimes use the second-person perspective in their novels, stories, or poems. It can also allow the writer to distance the narrator and the character, “you,” in the story. Oftentimes storytellers will use this kind of perspective to implicate the reader in the story they are telling. “You” will be the source of the story’s drama and “you” will face the consequences of “your” actions.
Writers who choose this narrative perspective are likely looking for an unusual reading experience. That is certainly what a reader will get who embarks upon a book or poem of this nature. While there are some good reasons to write in the second-person perspective, it is quite challenging, especially over something as long as a novel.
Example of Second Person in Poetry
Questo Muro
by Anita Barrows, 2010
You will come at a turning of the trail
to a wall of flame
After the hard climb & the exhausted dreaming
you will come to a place where he
with whom you have walked this far
will stop, will stand
beside you on the treacherous steep path
& stare as you shiver at the moving wall, the flame
that blocks your vision of what
comes after. And that one
who you thought would accompany you always,
who held your face
tenderly a little while in his hands—
who pressed the palms of his hands into drenched grass
& washed from your cheeks the soot, the tear-tracks—
he is telling you now
that all that stands between you
& everything you have known since the beginning
is this: this wall. Between yourself
& the beloved, between yourself & your joy,
the riverbank swaying with wildflowers, the shaft
of sunlight on the rock, the song.
Will you pass through it now, will you let it consume
whatever solidness this is
you call your life, & send
you out, a tremor of heat,
a radiance, a changed
flickering thing?
Third Person Point of View
Third Person Point of View
The third person narrative perspective is a literary style in which the narrator tells a story about a variety of characters. The third person perceptive involves using third-person pronouns – he, she, it, they – and a less personal account of events than in the first-person perspective. However, the third person does allow the writer to look into the minds of multiple characters rather than sticking with the “I” and “mine” of the narrator. Narrators in third-person narratives might be omniscient, meaning that they have the ability to look into the meds of all the characters in the story and convey their emotions. Alternatively, they might be semi-omniscient or limited, meaning that they can only see into the minds of one or two of the characters.
Why Do Writers Use Third Person Perspective?
Writers use the third person perceptive in order to tell a story from a number of different perceives. These stories use “he,” “she,” and “they” to create well rounded and believable men, women, and children. The characters in third-person stories are usually more interesting and complex than those in a first-person narrative due to the fact that the narrator can only intuit so much about someone. The third person also gives the reader more flexibility. The narrator can be anywhere at any time or even jumping through time. Additionally, the third-person narrator, especially if they are objective, is more trustworthy than a first-person narrator.
The Three Types of Third Person
Third Person Omniscient
Omniscient means “all-knowing,” and likewise an omniscient narrator knows every character’s thoughts, feelings, and motivations even if that character doesn’t reveal any of those things to the other characters.
Third Person Omniscient Poem: “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton
Cinderella
by Anne Sexton
You always read about it:
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story.
Or the nursemaid,
some luscious sweet from Denmark
who captures the oldest son's heart.
from diapers to Dior.
That story.
Or a milkman who serves the wealthy,
eggs, cream, butter, yogurt, milk,
the white truck like an ambulance
who goes into real estate
and makes a pile.
From homogenized to martinis at lunch.
Or the charwoman
who is on the bus when it cracks up
and collects enough from the insurance.
From mops to Bonwit Teller.
That story.
Once
the wife of a rich man was on her deathbed
and she said to her daughter Cinderella:
Be devout. Be good. Then I will smile
down from heaven in the seam of a cloud.
The man took another wife who had
two daughters, pretty enough
but with hearts like blackjacks.
Cinderella was their maid.
She slept on the sooty hearth each night
and walked around looking like Al Jolson.
Her father brought presents home from town,
jewels and gowns for the other women
but the twig of a tree for Cinderella.
She planted that twig on her mother's grave
and it grew to a tree where a white dove sat.
Whenever she wished for anything the dove
would drop it like an egg upon the ground.
The bird is important, my dears, so heed him.
Next came the ball, as you all know.
It was a marriage market.
The prince was looking for a wife.
All but Cinderella were preparing
and gussying up for the event.
Cinderella begged to go too.
Her stepmother threw a dish of lentils
into the cinders and said: Pick them
up in an hour and you shall go.
The white dove brought all his friends;
all the warm wings of the fatherland came,
and picked up the lentils in a jiffy.
No, Cinderella, said the stepmother,
you have no clothes and cannot dance.
That's the way with stepmothers.
Cinderella went to the tree at the grave
and cried forth like a gospel singer:
Mama! Mama! My turtledove,
send me to the prince's ball!
The bird dropped down a golden dress
and delicate little slippers.
Rather a large package for a simple bird.
So she went. Which is no surprise.
Her stepmother and sisters didn't
recognize her without her cinder face
and the prince took her hand on the spot
and danced with no other the whole day.
As nightfall came she thought she'd better
get home. The prince walked her home
and she disappeared into the pigeon house
and although the prince took an axe and broke
it open she was gone. Back to her cinders.
These events repeated themselves for three days.
However on the third day the prince
covered the palace steps with cobbler's wax
and Cinderella's gold shoe stuck upon it.
Now he would find whom the shoe fit
and find his strange dancing girl for keeps.
He went to their house and the two sisters
were delighted because they had lovely feet.
The eldest went into a room to try the slipper on
but her big toe got in the way so she simply
sliced it off and put on the slipper.
The prince rode away with her until the white dove
told him to look at the blood pouring forth.
That is the way with amputations.
They just don't heal up like a wish.
The other sister cut off her heel
but the blood told as blood will.
The prince was getting tired.
He began to feel like a shoe salesman.
But he gave it one last try.
This time Cinderella fit into the shoe
like a love letter into its envelope.
At the wedding ceremony
the two sisters came to curry favor
and the white dove pecked their eyes out.
Two hollow spots were left
like soup spoons.
Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after,
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
never telling the same story twice,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbs.Third Person Limited
In third-person limited narration, the narrator still exists outside the events of the story, but does not know the motivations or thoughts of all the characters. Rather, one character is the driver of the story, and the reader is given a closer peek into that character’s psyche than the others.
Third Person Limited Poem: “Serenading Andromeda” by Lin Lane
Serenading Andromeda
by Lin Lane, 2022
He's strumming the guitar strings as if they weep,
near a warm campfire on a cold December night.
Sad chords of his song hold many secrets to keep.
Through Ponderosa pines, whistling winds sweep
while a silver moon hovers, lustrous and bright.
He's strumming the guitar strings as if they weep.
Visions of her appear. Each cutting cruelly deep,
memories that should never be brought to light. S
ad chords of his song hold many secrets to keep.
The fire sputters, causing golden flames to leap,
crimson embers and dark ashes rise up in flight.
He's strumming the guitar strings as if they weep.
Over rolling plains, echoing cries of coyotes sweep.
His heart fills with regret and he's gravely contrite.
Sad chords of his song hold many secrets to keep.
Serenading Andromeda, too restless for sleep.
Fingers picking the fret as he sings about his plight,
he's strumming the guitar strings as if they weep.
sad chords of his song hold many secrets to keep.Third Person Objective
In third-person objective narration, the narrator reports the events that take place without knowing the motivations or thoughts of any of the characters. We know little about what drives them until we hear them speak or observe their actions. The resulting tone is often matter-of-fact, not colored by any opinions or commentary, nor of knowledge of what takes place outside the scene.
Third Person Objective Poem: “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!Example of Third Person in Poetry
‘Eldorado’ is a short poem that follows that try of a “gallant knight” who seeks out the lost city of Eldorado. The entire poem is a metaphor for life and death, ending with the knight’s failure.
Eldorado
by Edgar Allan Poe
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’
‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’Now that you know a bit more about literary perspective, read these two short stories below and consider how the point of view in each story colors our experience of the narrative as we read.
3. The Art of Story, Irony and Foreshadowing: “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs & “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
Story Arcs
Foreshadowing is an author’s use of clues to prepare readers for events that will happen in a story. Authors use foreshadowing to build suspense and to maintain the readers’ interest in a story.
Foreshadowing gives an alert reader hints about what to expect. In “Charles,” Jackson uses the characters’ actions and dialogue to hint at what will happen at the end. As you read, ask yourself what clues in the story foreshadow the ending. Before you finish the story, try to guess how it will end.
4. Tales of Transformation: “Faldum” by Hermann Hesse & “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka and MC Escher’s “Metamorphosis III”
In this unit, we bring together three presently influential figures – two authors and one artist – from early 20th century Europe: Hermann Hesse (1877 – 1962), Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924), and Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898 – 1972). The works of these three people have become infused into modern culture, both popular and otherwise, and so you should be familiar with their work if you are to understand the allusions made to them.
HERMANN HESSE
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss novelist and poet, whose best known works include Damian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores the individual and the search for their authenticity through self-discovery and existential revelation. During his life, Hesse was a passivist and against German aggression in the World Wars. He was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world with world-wide fame coming in the latter 20th century, when his work became popular among counter-cultural revolutions in the 1960s and 70s. Hesse’s first successful novel, Peter Camenzind, was well-received by young Germans desiring a different and more “natural” way of life in a time of great economic and technological progress during the early 20th century. Similarly, The Glass Bead Game, with its disciplined intellectual world of Castalia and the powers of meditation and humanity, captivated Germans’ longing for a new order amid the chaos of a broken nation following the loss in the Second World War. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
FRANZ KAFKA
Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Czech novelist and short-story writer based in Prague who is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th century literature, though he was unknown during his life. His work fuses elements of realism with the fantastic and typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. His work has widely been interpreted through the lens of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
M. C. ESCHER
Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the late 20th century, he became more widely appreciated, and in the 21st century he has been celebrated in exhibitions around the world. His work features mathematical objects and operations including impossible objects, explorations of infinity, reflection, symmetry, perspective, hyperbolic geometry, and tessellations. Although Escher believed he had no mathematical ability, he interacted with the mathematicians George Pólya, Roger Penrose, and Harold Coxeter and conducted his own research into tessellation. Escher’s art became well known among scientists and mathematicians, and in popular culture.
The work of Escher can be broadly divided into two themes: eternity and perpetuity of then through continuous and subtle transformation or metamorphosis. A metamorphosis is a change in appearance, mood, or character and can be literal or metaphorical, from a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly to the metamorphosis of literary character from being selfish to selfless.
The works wherein Escher demonstrated the themes of transformation and perpetuity most clearly are his phantasmgoric Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III. Escher created his first Metamorphosis in 1937. In it, he depicts the transition of the small town of Atrani via geometrically rigid patterns into a freestanding figure. This woodcut is only a precursor to the vision that he would ultimately demonstrate in his second and third metamorphosis works.
In Metamorphosis I, Escher discovered a new concept: this is the first work in which he uses the tessellation technique to transform one image into another in a seemingly random fashion. The realistic depiction of the Italian town of Atrani gradually and relatively ‘simplistically’ morphs into a figure. Tessellations are patterns of identical shapes that seamlessly interlock and can be repeated endlessly. This explains why these wonderful shapes are sometimes referred to as ’tiles’.
click to enlarge
Metamorphosis II was finished in 1939 with Atrani once again features prominently, but instead of being at the beginning of a series of transitions, the little town is now at the end. The most striking difference between Metamorphoses I and II, however, is that the beginning and ending are the same Metamorphosis II, which gives an implication of possible cyclical reemergence. Metamorphosis III, completed in 1968, is basically an extension of Metamorphosis II, and so we have only shown Metamorphosis III here.
click to enlarge
Seeing these three works alongside each other enhances our understanding of Escher’s development. He referred to his approach as “a playful, childlike toying with imagery and thought associations, which more or less randomly followed on from each other without any attempt at profundity.” Eternity and perpetuity are abstract notions. How do you show that man is part of a much grander scheme? In the second half of the twentieth century, people believed that non-figurative art (i.e. abstract art) was the best way to convey this notion. Maurits Cornelis Escher sought eternity and transformation not in abstraction, but in surprise. He wanted to surprise and delight his audience. As you read Hermann Hesse’s Faldum and Franz Kafka’s MEtamorphosis this about how these author also seek transformation not in abstraction but in the unexpected and the subtle.
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT:
Compare and contrast Hermann Hesse’s story of transformation and Franz Kafka’s story of metamorphosis. In each of these narratives, the character that transforms loses touch with humanity. Based on evidence from the readings, what do you think the ultimate commentary of these authors is about the human condition and our ability to either connect with or depart from it? In a six paragraph essay, present a well-constructed thesis with three to four supporting points that outlines both Hesse’s and Kafka’s views of humanity according to the imagry, actions, and ideas of losing touch with the human condition presented within these stories. Conclude with some reasoning as to why the views of these two authors is either similar or differing based on some basic researching of their lives and philosphy generally; to this end, use the internet to learn more about these authors. Cite any resources you use in your essay.
5. Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe and Gothic Literature
Intro to Gothic Literature (refer back to the Monkey’s Paw as an example)
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe (1846)
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
6. Tales of Future Now: “The Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster & “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
7. Tales of Cosmic Wonder: “The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything” by Douglas Adams & “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov
The Big Questions, Last Questions, and Unanswered Questions
Isaac Asimov was the most prolific science fiction author of all time. In fifty years he averaged a new magazine article, short story, or book every two weeks, and most of that on a manual typewriter. Asimov thought that The Last Question, first copyrighted in 1956, was his best short story ever. Even if you do not have the background in science to be familiar with all of the concepts presented here, the ending packs more impact than any other book that I’ve ever read. Don’t read the end of the story first!
This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written. After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you. It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything — and I’m satisfied that it should.
“Asking Big Questions” – Ives’ “The Unanswered Question”
End of Unit Vocabulary Inventory
These are the vocabulary words you have encountered in this unit. You are responsible for knowing the words and should expect a test on this vocabulary as part of the end-of-unit assessment. If you are familiar with these words from previous lists or from past experience, then you are doing well!
CONCEPTS:
- composition
- perspective
- irony
- foreshadowing
- story arcs
- the six elements of plot
- tesselations
WORKS & PERSONS OF NOTE:
- Zhuangzi (person and work)
- Lao-Tzu
- Dao De Jing
- Oscar Wilde
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Hermann Hesse
- Franz Kafka
- MC Escher
VOCABULARY BUILDING:
- pivotal
- prototypical
- genre
- obfuscate (obfuscating)
- provocative
- archytypical
- exposition
- denouement
- metamorphosis
- phantasmagoric
- perpetuity
- pithy
- allusions