Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Modern Fiction Final Exam
N/A
30
Literature
Undergraduate 2
12/14/2011

Additional Literature Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
The Return of the Repressed
Definition
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Process whereby repressed elements, preserved in the unconscious, tend to reappear, in consciousness or in behavior
  • Beloved: Beloved is killed and comes back as a ghost
Term
Doppelganger
Definition
  • a double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune
  • Beloved: Beloved is a doppelganger of Sethe
Term
Totem
Definition
  • An iconic element that gains meaning in the text
  • Plague of Doves: the violin is a totem (belonged to Lafayette, created the music in the beginning and end of the novel)
Term
Tragedy and Comedy
Definition
  • Tragedy: literary work in which the main character suffers extreme sorrow, especially resulting from a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or unfavorable circumstances
  • Comedy: dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the conflict
Term
Hubris/Tragic Flaw
Definition
  • Excess of pride
  • the character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy
Term
Epiphany
Definition
  • Some moment of insight, discovery, or revelation by which a character's life or view of life is greatly altered
  • James Joyce is responsible for this term
  • ELIC: when Oskar realizes both that his mother knew what he was doing and what the key went to
Term
Catharsis
Definition
  • the purgation or cleansing of the emotions (such as fear and pity) through art
Term
Myth of Philomela
Definition
  • The Greek myth of Philomela and her two sisters
  • Appears in ELIC, as the love triangle between the grandparents and Anna
Term
Triangle
Definition
  • Particularly a love triangle
  • ELIC: the love triangle between the grandpa, grandma, and Anna
Term
Many-worlds Interpretation
Definition
  • Hugh Everett III, 1957
  • the idea of many universes; all possible histories and futures exist
  • Parallel lives
  • ELIC: the idea of "If I had 2 lives, I would..." appears often (Oskar, grandfather)
Term
Trauma transfer
Definition
  • Reading a current trauma through the lens of a previous one
  • Plague of Doves
Term
The inexpressibility of the tragic past
Definition
Term
Guilt by association
Definition
  • The attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty
  • Beloved: when Paul D has the shackle around his neck, Sethe feels shame
Term
Transformational spaces
Definition
  • Beloved
Term
Fugitive Slave Law
Definition
  • Passed in 1850
  • Declared that runaway slaves be brought back to their masters
  • Beloved: the 4 horsemen come to take Sethe back
Term
Civil War
Definition
  • 1861-1865
  • War between the south and the north, after 11 southern states declared their secession from the United States, in response to Lincoln's election
  • Beloved
Term
Reconstruction (Era)
Definition
  • 1865-1877
  • The reconstruction of the entire nation after the Civil War, and the transformation of and reconstruction of state and soceiety in the souther states
Term
Emancipation Proclamation
Definition
  • 1863
  • Issued by Lincoln during the Civil War, declaring the freedom of slaves in the rebelling states
Term
Thirteenth Amendment
Definition
  • 1865
  • officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude
Term
Jim Crow Laws
Definition
  • 1876-1964
  • laws (mainly in the southern states) that segregated blacks and whites in all public facilities, in a supposedly "equal" fashion
Term
Eternal Recurrence
Definition
  • Concept which posits that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur in a self-similar form an infinite number of times
Term
NAGPRA (Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act)
Definition
  • 1990
  • required federal agencies and institutions that recieve federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to their respective peoples
Term
Repatriation
Definition
  • The process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship
Term
Focalization
Definition
  • Perspective influences storytelling; seeing the story from different viewpoints (eg. narrator, character)
  • Plague of Doves: parts of the story are told from the view of various characters, giving the story more depth
Term
Transformative power of art
Definition
  • Plague of Doves: Shamengwa's arm was deformed from being in a sling and playing the violin
Term
Art and Transcendence
Definition
  • Art allows understanding and escape, but we can't maintain that level of understanding for long
Term
Art Poetica
Definition
  • Means "the art of poetry"
  • a poet's theory of poetry
  • Plague of Doves: Louise Erdrich says through the story, "Here's how art works"
Term
Louis Riel, The Metis Rebellion
Definition
  • 1885
  • Canadian polititian who resisted the government and sought to preserve Metis rights and culture
  • Rebellion against Canadian government to preserve the Metis culture
Term
Collage novel, hybrid fiction, novel-in-stories
Definition
  • Contains multiple viewpoints, narrators, and elements (ex: pictures)
  • All of the novels have met this criteria (esp. past three)
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