UNIT 5 FICTION

Task 1. Read the text and point out the elements of fiction.
Fiction (from the Latin fingere, "to form, create") is storytelling of imagined events and
stands in contrast to non-fiction, which makes factual claims about reality. A large part of the
appeal of fiction is its ability to evoke the entire spectrum of human emotions: to distract our
minds, to give us hope in times of despair, to make us laugh, or to let us experience empathy
without attachment. Fictional works—novels, stories, fables, fairy tales, films, comics,
interactive fiction—may be partly based on factual occurrences but always contain some
imaginary content. The term is also often used synonymously with literature and more
specifically fictional prose. In this sense, fiction refers only to novels or short stories and is often
divided into two categories, popular fiction (e.g., science fiction or mystery fiction) and literary
fiction (e.g., Victor Hugo or William Faulkner).
The Internet has had a massive impact on the distribution of fiction, calling into question
the feasibility of copyright as a means to ensure royalties are paid to copyright holders. Also
digital libraries such as Project Gutenberg have come into being which make public domain texts
more readily available. The combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet and the
creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive computer games or
computer-generated comics. Countless forums for fan fiction can be found online, where loyal
followers of specific fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories.
Fiction is a fundamental part of human culture, and the ability to create fiction and other
artistic works is frequently cited as one of the defining characteristics of humanity.
Elements of fiction
The fiction writer might use the following to create artistic effects in his or her story:
 antagonist: the character that stands in opposition to the protagonist
 character: a participant in the story, usually a person
 conflict: a character or problem with which the protagonist must contend
 climax: the story's highest point of tension or drama
 dialogue: the speech of characters as opposed to the narrator
 plot: a related series of events revealed in narrative
 point of view: the perspective of the narrator; usually refers to the voice, first or
third person.
 protagonist: the central character of a story
 resolution: the plot component in which the result of the conflict is revealed
 scene: a piece of the story showing the action of one event
 setting: the locale and time of a story that creates mood and atmosphere
 structure: the organization of story elements
 subplot: a plot that is part of or subordinate to another plot
 theme: a conceptual distillation of the story; what the story is about
 suspension of disbelief: the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as
believable, usually necessary for enjoyment.

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

Рассказ о придуманных событиях и местах, давать фактическую информацию о
реальности, привлекательность художественной литературы, вызывать целый спектр
человеческих эмоций, отвлекать мысли, сопереживать, настоящие события, оказывать
огромное влияние на, охрана авторских прав, электронные библиотеки, царство особой
художественной литературы, положительный герой, отрицательный герой, кульминация,
сюжет, развязка, сцена; обстановка, время и место действия; второстепенная сюжетная
линия; неизвестность, нагнетание обстановки.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions:

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1. What is fiction?
2. Why doe fiction appeal to people?
3. What is fiction based on?
4. What is fiction in narrow sense? What genres does it have?
5. What challenge did internet present to the fiction authors?
6. What new forms of fiction did internet give birth to?
7. Is fiction important for humanity?
8. What are the elements of fiction?

Task 2. CATEGORIES OF FICTION (LITERARY GENRES)

An autobiography (from the Greek auton, 'self', bios, 'life' and graphein, 'write') is a
biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled "as
told to" or "with"). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older.
Biographers generally rely on a wide variety of documents and viewpoints; an
autobiography may be based entirely on the writer's memory.
A memoir is slightly different from an autobiography. Traditionally, a memoir focuses on
the "life and times" of the character, while an autobiography has a narrower, more intimate focus
on his or her own memories, feelings and emotions. Memoirs have often been written by
politicians or military leaders as a way to record and publish an account of their public exploits.
In the eighteenth century, "scandalous memoirs" were written (mostly anonymously) by
prostitutes or libertines: these were widely read in France for their juicy gossip. In more recent
times, memoirs are also life stories which can be about the writer and about another person at the
some time. Modern memoirs are often based on old diaries, letters, and photographs. The term
"memoir" has begun to replace "autobiography" in its popular use. Until the last 20 years or so,
few people without some degree of fame tried to write and publish a memoir. But with the
critical and commercial success in the United States of such memoirs Angela's Ashes and The
Color of Water more and more people have been encouraged to try their hand at this genre.
Mark Twain was probably the first popular person to include photography in his
autobiography. He was especially interested and involved on the taking of the pictures to control
his photographic persona.
Biography (from the Greek words bios meaning life, and graphein meaning write) is a
genre of literature based on the written accounts of individual lives. While a biography may
focus on a subject of fiction or non-fiction, the term is usually in reference to non-fiction. As
opposed to a profile or curriculum vitae, a biography develops complex insight and highlights
different textures of personality including intimate details of experiences. A biography is more
than a list of impertinent facts like birth, education, work, relationships and death. It also delves
into the emotions of experiencing such events.
With the technological advancements created in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,
multi-media forms of biography became much more popular than literary forms. Visual and film
images were able to elaborate new dimensions of personality that written forms could not.

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

написанный совместно с соавтором, основываться на разных точках зрения и документах,
перечисление общественных деяний, пробовали свои силы в этом жанре, описание жизни
человека, краткая биография, отражает различные особенности человека, анализирует
эмоции.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions:

1. What is an autobiography? What is it based on?
2. What is memoir? How is it different from a biography?
3. Who usually writes memoirs?
4. Why does the number of memoirs always increase?
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5. What is a biography? How is it different from a CV?
6. What new form of biography came into existence in the 20th century?

Ex.3. Read and discuss the dialogue.

Gilbert: (at the piano) My dear Ernest, what are you laughing at?
Ernest: (looking up) At a stоrу that I have just come across in this volume that I've found
on your table.
Gilbert: What is the book? Ah! I see. I haven't read it yet. Is it good. _
Ernest: Well, while you have been playing, I have been turning over the pages with some
amusement, though, as a rule, I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people
who have either lost memories, or have never done anything worth remembering.
Gilbert: I like all memoirs. 1 like them for their form as much as for their matter... When
people talk to us about themselves they are nearly always interesting.
(After O. Wilde)

1. Why does Ernest dislike memoirs?

2. Why does Gilbert like them?
3. Do you like reading memoirs?
4. Do you think it is good reading matter for young people; middle-aged people; old people?
5. What kind of memoirs are you interested in? Those written by writers; by actors; by painters;
about/by political figures or war memories?
6. Do you think that people who write memoirs are always objective?
7 Do you agree with О.Wilde that when people write about others they are usually dull but when
they write about themselves they are nearly always interesting?

Task 3. FABLES AND FAIRY TALES

In its strict sense a fable is a short story or folk tale embodying a moral, which may be
expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. "Fable" comes from Latin fabula (meaning
'conversation', 'narrative', 'tale') and shares a root with faber, "maker, artificer." Thus, though a
fable may be conversational in tone, the understanding from the outset is that it is an invention, a
fiction. A fable may be set in verse, though it is usually prose. In its pejorative sense, a fable is a
deliberately invented or falsified account.
A fable often, but not necessarily, makes metaphorical use of an animal as its central
character. Medieval French fabliaux might feature Reynard the fox, a trickster figure, and offer a
subtext that was mildly subversive of the feudal order of society. A familiar theme in Slavic
fables is an encounter between a wily peasant and the Devil. But the device of personificatoin
may be extended to anything inanimate, such as trees, flowers, stones, streams and winds.
In some usage, "fable" has been extended to include stories with mythical or legendary
elements. The word "fabulous" strictly means "pertaining to fables," although in recent decades
its metaphorical meanings have been taken to be literal meanings, i.e. "legendary," "mythical,"
"exaggerated," "incredible." An author of fables is called a fabulist.
Fables have long been told. The first notable fabulist was Aesop, a Greek slave ca. 600
B.C. He is considered the father of the genre because 200 fables have been attributed to him,
though most of them may have been told earlier. In modern times, the fable has been trivialized
in children's books. Yet it has also been fully adapted to modern literature.
A fairy tale is a story featuring folkloric characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls,
giants, and others. The fairy tale is a sub-class of the folktale. These stories often involve princes
and princesses, and modern versions usually have a happy ending. In cultures where demons and
witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legendary narratives, where the context
is perceived by teller and hearers as having historical actuality. However unlike legends and
epics they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places,

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persons, and events. Although these allusions are often critical in understanding the origins of
these fanciful stories.
Although in the late nineteenth and twentieth century the fairy tale came to be associated
with children's literature, adults were originally as likely as children to be the audience of the
fairy tale. The fairy tale was part of an oral tradition: tales were narrated orally, rather than
written down, and handed down from generation to generation. The tales often had sad endings;
such was the penalty for dealing with the fairy folk.
Later fairy tales were about princes and princesses, combat, adventure, society, and
romance. Fairies had a secondary role. Moral lessons and happy endings were more common,
and the villain was usually punished. In the modern era, fairy tales were altered, usually with
violence removed, so they could be read to children (who according to a common modern
sentiment should not hear about violence).
Sometimes fairy tales are simply miraculous entertainments, but often they are disguised
morality tales. This is true for the Brothers Grimm Kinder- und Hausmärchen, and much of the
drily witty, dead-pan, social criticism beneath the surface of Hans Christian Andersen's tales.
According to a 2004 poll of 1,200 children by UCI Cinemas, the most popular fairy tales
(in the USA) are: Cinderella ,Sleeping Beauty ,Hansel and Gretel , Rapunzel, Little Red Riding
Hood , Town Musicians
In addition, the Arabian Nights stories like Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp and Ali Baba
and the Forty Thieves are often thought to be fairy tales themselves.
In contemporary literature, many authors have used the form of fairy tales for various
reasons, such as examining the human condition from the simple framework a fairytale provides.
Some authors seek to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse. Sometimes,
especially in children's literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect.

Fairy tales are more than true –

not because they tell us dragons exist,
but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.
G. K. Chesterton

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

Афоризм, с самого начала, обманщик, ловкач, подтекст, хитрый, коварный, лукавый;
баснописец, опошлять, изображать, описывать; феи, великаны, контекст воспринимается
как реальное историческое событие, передавались из поколения в поколение, сражения,
замаскированные поучительные истории, перевираются.
Ex. 2. Answer the questions
1. What is a fable?
2. What characters does a fable feature?
3. What does the word “fabulous” mean?
4. Who was Aesop?
5. Who do fairy tales usually feature?
6. What differs them from epics and legends?
7. What is the audience of fairy tales?
8. What were the later/modern fairy tales like?
9. Are fairy tales only for entertainment?
10. What are the most popular fairy tales?
11. Why do modern writers resort to fairy tales?

Task 4. FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other
supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. The genre is
generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel, and theme of the
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individual work, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three. In its broadest sense,
fantasy covers works by many writers, artists, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends, to
many recent works embraced by a wide audience today.
As with other forms of speculative fiction, actions and events in fantasy very often differ
from those possible in consensus reality. In many cases, especially in older works of fantasy but
in many modern works as well, this is explained by means of divine intervention, magic, or other
supernatural forces. In other cases, most frequently in works of modern fantasy in the high
fantasy subgenre, the story might take place in a fantasy world that is wholly different from our
own, complete with distinct laws of nature that permit magic.
In the early to mid 20th century, much fantasy was published in the same magazines as
science fiction (and often written by the same authors).
In the mid-1900's, two subgenres of fantasy became very popular and influential: high
fantasy and sword and sorcery. Within the High Fantasy genre, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and
The Lord of the Rings are milestones; other important works include C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of
Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. Some of the most important contributors to the
Sword and Sorcery genre include Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.
Fantasy writing saw renewed popularity in the latter half of the 20th century, often influenced by
these seminal works and, like them, borrowing from myth, epic, and medieval romance.
The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as
evidenced by the best-selling status of the Harry Potter series as well as fantasy film adaptations
that have achieved blockbuster status, most notably the recent Lord of the Rings movies.
Modern fantasy, including early modern fantasy, has also spawned many new subgenres
with no clear counterpart in mythology or folklore, although inspiration from mythology and
folklore remains a consistent theme. Fantasy subgenres are numerous and diverse, frequently
overlapping with other forms of speculative fiction in almost every medium in which they're
produced. Noteworthy in this regard are the science fantasy and dark fantasy subgenres, which
the fantasy genre shares with science fiction and horror, respectively.
Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which advances in science, or contact with more
scientifically advanced civilizations, create situations different from those of both the present day
and the known past. Although science fiction is often written primarily to entertain, many
authors use the genre to provide insight into science, society, or the human condition. Broadly
speaking, the science fiction genre is concerned with the effects of science or technology on
society or individuals. These effects may be epic in scope or personal. The science-fictional
elements may be imagined or rooted in reality, original or cliché.
Science fiction has often been concerned with the great hopes people place in science but
also with their fears concerning the negative side of technological development; the latter is
expressed in the classic theme of the hubristic scientist who is destroyed by his own creation.
Much science fiction attempt to generate a sense of wonder, or awe, from the setting,
circumstances, or ideas presented.
A popular notion is that science fiction attempts to predict the future. Some commentators
go so far as to judge the "success" of a work of science fiction on the accuracy of its predictions.
However, while some science fiction is set in the future, most authors are not attempting literally
to predict it; instead, they use the future as an open framework for their themes. A science fiction
writer is generally not trying to write a history of the future that they believe will happen, any
more than a writer of westerns is trying to create a historically accurate depiction of the old
West. Writers are as likely to write of a future that they hope will not happen as they are to write
about a future they think will happen. Future societies and remarkable technological innovations
are presented as enabling devices for cognitive exploration - or simply for entertainment - and
the narratives are not meant to be predictive in any simple way. There are exceptions, however,
especially in early science fiction.
Alternate history is the commonly applied and widely accepted literary term which simply
means and describes a fictional alternative history. It is a sub-subgenre of science fiction, that is
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set in a world in which history has diverged from history as it is generally known; more simply
put, alternate history asks the question, "What if history had developed differently?" Most works
in this genre are set in real historical contexts, yet feature social, geopolitical or industrial
circumstances that developed differently or at a different pace from our own, sometimes as a
result of progress in technological or social paradigms that were accomplished via the
understanding already present in the given zeitgeist. While to some extent all fiction can be
described as alternate history, the subgenre proper comprises fiction in which a change happens
that causes history to diverge from our own.
Since the 1950s this type of fiction has to a large extent merged with science fictional
framings involving (a) cross-time, or paratime, travel between alternate histories/universes; or
(b) ordinary voyaging uptime or downtime that results in a world splitting into two or more new
timelines. So close have the cross-time, time-splitting and alternate history themes been
interwoven that it is impossible to discuss them fully apart from one another. Thus, cross-time
and time-splitting stories will be an important part of this article insofar as they portray one or
more alternate histories that diverged from a common past.
There are certain elements which are common to all alternate histories, whether they deal
with history on the micro-level (personal alternate histories) or the macro-level (world-changing
events). These elements include:
 A point of change from the history of our world prior to the time at which the author is
writing;
 A change which would alter history as it is known; and
 An examination of the ramifications of that change.
Alternate histories do not:
 Need to be set in the past;
 Need to spell out the point of divergence;
 Need to deal with world changing events; or
 Need to include famous people.

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

Божественное вмешательство, сверхъестественный, плодотворный, без прототипа,
поджанр, высокая фэнтези, меч и волшебство, веха, не имеют определенного прототипа,
открытия науки, научно-развитые, рассмтрение сущности науки, уходить корнями в
действительность, точность предсказаний, выдающиеся технологические инновации,
история отклонилась от, действие происходит в реальных условиях, сливается,
путешествовать во времени.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions

1. What does fantasy focus on?
2. How are implausible events explained in fantasy?
3. Where can the action take place in fantasy?
4. What subgenres of fantasy can you name?
5. What are the sources of fantasy?
6. What contributed to the popularity of fantasy in the 21st century?
7. What genres does fantasy overlap with?
8. What is science fiction?
9. What is SF concerned with?
10. Does SF try to predict future? What does it describe?
11. What is alternative history?
12. What do the stories of this genre feature?
13. What two main types of alternative history can be distinguished?
14. What are the common elements of alternative history?

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15. What features are not obligatory for alternate history?
Task 5. Horror fiction and gothic novels
Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the
reader. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil,
or occasionally misunderstood, supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the
1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, exceptionally suspenseful or
frightening theme has come to be called "horror."
The gothic novel was a literary genre that belonged to Romanticism and began in Britain
with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. It depended for its effect on the pleasing
terror it induced in the reader, a new extension of literary pleasures that was essentially
Romantic. It is the predecessor of modern horror fiction and, above all, has led to the common
definition of "gothic" as being connected to the dark and horrific.
Prominent features of gothic novels included terror (psychological as well as physical),
mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted buildings, castles, trapdoors, doom, death, decay,
madness, hereditary curses, and so on.
The term "gothic" came to be applied to the literary genre precisely because the genre dealt
with such emotional extremes and dark themes, and because it found its most natural settings in
the buildings of this style - castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and
ruined. It was a fascination with this architecture and its related art, poetry, and even landscape
gardening that inspired the first wave of gothic novelists.
In Britain, the gothic novel as a genre largely played itself out by 1840. This was helped by
the over-saturation of the genre by cheap "pulp" works—which would later morph into cheap
horror fiction in the form of "penny dreadfuls".
The gothic novel had a lasting effect on the development of literary form in the Victorian
period. It led to the Victorian craze for short ghost stories, as well as the short, shocking,
macabre tale as mastered by the American author Edgar Allan Poe.
By the 1880s, it was time for a revival of the gothic novel as a semi-respectable literary
form. This was the period of the gothic works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and the
most famous gothic villain ever appeared in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).
The themes of the gothic novel have had innumerable children. It led to the modern horror
film, one of the most popular of all genres seen in films. While few classical composers drew on
gothic works, twentieth century popular music drew on it strongly, eventually resulting in gothic
rock and the goth subculture surrounding it.

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

Напугать, обеспокоить, ужаснуть, вторжение зла, сверхъестественный элемент,
вызывать страх, дома с привидениями, наследственные проклятия, перенасыщение,
готический злодей.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions.

1. What is the purpose of horror fiction?
2. What do they call horror?
3. What is the main characteristic of a gothic novel?
4. Why is this genre called gothic?
5. Why did gothic novel cease to be popular in England?
6. What stories did it give birth to?
7. When was gothic novel revived?

Ex. 3. Devising a horror story.

Work in group of four. You are going to outline the plot of a horror story. Select from the
list of “ingredients” below and, if you want to, add your own ideas. Appoint a spokesperson to
take notes. When you have finished, compare your stories.
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Location Period Characters Events
A cemetery 1860 A honeymoon couple People disappear

An old castle on a hill The Middle Ages A mad scientist A monster is created

A church When there’s a new A witch Man-eating plants

moon invade Earth
A remote county Present time A psychiatrist Someone collects
mansion people for human zoo
A house with secret Some time in the A poltegeist The dead return to life
passages future
An aeroplane A young girl who, if An operation that
angered, has the goes wrong
power to make A successful
strange things happen operation!
A dark wood An army of androids Inexplicable events

Someone who has a

grudge against society

Rats, spiders, giant

bees, bats

Task 6. Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals, and
their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as
science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred. It has several
sub-genres, including detective fiction (including the whodunnit), legal thriller, courtroom
drama, and hard-boiled fiction.
Crime fiction began to be considered as a serious genre only around 1900. The earliest
inspiration for books and novels from this genre came from earlier dark works of Edgar Allan
Poe. The evolution of locked room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime
fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge
popularity in this genre.
When trying to pigeon-hole fiction, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell where crime fiction
starts and where it ends. This is largely attributed to the fact that love, danger and death are
central motifs in fiction. A less obvious reason is that the classification of a work may very well
be related to the author's reputation. Seen from a practical point of view, one could argue that a
crime novel is simply a novel that can be found in a bookshop on the shelf or shelves labelled
"Crime". Penguin Books have had a long-standing tradition of publishing crime novels in cheap
paperbacks with green covers and spines (as opposed to the orange spines of mainstream
literature), thus attracting the eyes of potential buyers already when they enter the shop. But
again, this clever marketing strategy does not tell the casual browser what they are really in for
when they buy a particular book.
As far as the history of crime fiction is concerned, it is an astonishing fact that many
authors have been reluctant to this very day to publish their crime novels under their real names
— as if they were ashamed of doing something "improper".
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 As with any other entity, quality of a crime fiction book is not in any meaningful
proportion to its availability. Some of the crime novels generally regarded as the finest, including
those which are regularly chosen by experts as belonging to the best 100 crime novels ever
written (see bibliography), have been out of print ever since their first publication, which often
dates back to the 1920s or 30s. The bulk of books that can be found today on the shelves labelled
"Crime" consists of recent first publications usually no older than a few years — books which
may or may not some day become "classics"; books which will either be remembered (and
reprinted) for a long time to come or forgotten (and not available) tomorrow.
In other words, the books which are most readily available are those published over the last
few years, whether they are selling well or not. In addition, a handful of authors have achieved
the status of "classics", which means that all or at least most of their novels can be had anywhere
anytime. A case in point is Agatha Christie, whose mysteries, originally published between 1920
and her death in 1976, are available in both British and U.S. editions practically wherever you
go.

Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime,
usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. It is closely related to mystery
fiction but generally contains more of a puzzle element that must be solved, generally by a single
protagonist, either male or female.
A common feature of detective fiction is an investigator who is unmarried, with some
source of income other than a regular job, and who generally has some pleasing eccentricities or
striking characteristics. He or she frequently has a less intelligent assistant, or foil, who is asked
to make apparently irrelevant inquiries and acts as an audience surrogate for the explanation of
the mystery at the end of the story.
The most widespread subgenre of the detective novel is the whodunit (or whodunnit),
where great ingenuity may be exercised in narrating the events of the crime and of the
subsequent investigation in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the criminal from the
reader until the end of the book, when the method and culprit are revealed.
In early stories the primary concern of the plot was ascertaining truth, and the usual means
of obtaining the truth was through a complex and mysterious process combining intuitive logic,
astute observation, and perspicacious inference. As a consequence, the crime itself sometimes
becomes secondary to the efforts taken to solve it.
English readers, in their own Golden Age of detective fiction between the wars generally
preferred a different, but equally implausible, type of detective story in which an outsider -
sometimes a salaried investigator or a police officer, but more often a gifted amateur -
investigates a murder committed in a closed environment by one of a limited number of suspects.
These have become known as 'cosies' to distinguish them from the 'hard-boiled' type preferred in
the USA. The most popular writer of cosies, and one of the most popular writers of all time, was
Agatha Christie, who produced a long series of books featuring her detectives Hercule Poirot and
Miss Marple, amongst others, and usually including a complex puzzle for the baffled and
misdirected reader to try and unravel.
Many detective stories have police officers as the main characters. Of course these stories
may take many forms, but many authors try to go for a realistic depiction of a police officer's
routine. A good deal are whodunits; in others the criminal is well known, and it is a case of
getting enough evidence.
Some typical features of these are:
 The detective is rarely the first on the crime scene - it will be milling with uniform,
paramedics and possibly members of the public.
 Forensic reports - and the wait for them.
 Rules and regulations to follow - or not.
 Suspects arrested and kept in custody - sometimes wrongly.
 Pressure from senior officers to show progress.
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  A large investigating team - two, three or four main characters, plus other officers
to order about.
 Pubs - places to discuss or think about the case - especially in the Inspector Morse
mysteries.
 Informants - to lean on.
 Political pressure when the suspects are prominent figures
 Internal hostility from comrades when the suspects are fellow police officers
 Pressure from the media (tv, newspapers) to come up with an answer
 Interesting and unusual cars driven by the principal detective

The full list of fictional detectives would be immense. The format is well suited to dramatic
presentation, and so there are also many television and film detectives, besides those appearing
in adaptations of novels in this genre. Fictional detectives generally fall within one of four
domains:
 the amateur or dilettante detective (Marple, Jessica Fletcher);
 the private investigator (Holmes, Marlowe, Spade, Rockford);
 the police detective (Ironside, Kojak, Morse);
 more recently, the medical examiner, criminal psychologist, forensic evidence expert or
other specialists (Scarpetta, Quincy, Cracker, CSI).

The legal thriller is a sub-genre of the detective story in which the major characters are
lawyers and their employees. The system of justice itself is always a major part of these works,
at times almost functioning as one of the characters. In this way, the legal system provides the
framework for the legal thriller much as the system of modern police work does for the police
procedural. Usually, crusading lawyers become involved in proving their cases (usually their
client's innocence of the crime of which he is accused, or the culpability of a corrupt corporation
which has covered up its malfeasance up until this point) to such an extent that they imperil their
own interpersonal relationships and frequently, their own lives. Major authors of this genre
include John Grisham, Scott Turow, Lisa Scottoline, Sheldon Siegel, Richard North Patterson.
Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an
unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). It is similar to the
whodunit in that the clues may often be given to the reader by subtle means. Though it is often
confused with detective fiction, it does not require a crime to have occurred or the involvement
of law enforcement.
Interest in mystery fiction continues to this day thanks to various television shows which
have used mystery themes over the years and the many juvenile and adult novels which continue
to be published and frequent the best seller lists. Also, there is some overlap with "thriller" or
"suspense" novels and authors in those genres may consider themselves mystery novelists.
An organization for the authors of mystery, detective, and crime fiction was begun in 1945,
called the Mystery Writers of America. This popular genre has naturally made the leap into the
online world, spawning countless websites devoted to every aspect of the genre, with even a few
supposedly written by real detectives.

Ex. 1. Find the English equivalents:

Расследование преступлений (2), господствующий, вдохновение черпается из,
преступление в закрытой комнате, классифицировать, центральный мотив, элемент
загадки, следователь, милые эксцентричные черты, яркие черты, изобретательность,
пересказ событий, скрыть личность преступника, установление правды, проницательное
наблюдение, неправдоподобный, талантливый любитель, убийство, совершенное в
ограниченном кругу, сбитый с толку читатель, разгадать, междоусобная враждебность,

10
экранизация романов, система правосудия, воинственные юристы, виновность, подвергать
опасности, читателю даются подсказки.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions.

1. What is crime fiction and what subgenres does it have?
2. When did crime fiction appear? What characters made it popular?
3. Is it easy to define a crime novel? Why?
4. How does a crime fiction book look like?
5. Why don’t many authors publish detectives under their own name?
6. Are the circulation of a detective novel and its quality interconnected?
7. What are classic detectives?
8. What is detective fiction? What is a common feature of detective novels?
9. What is “whodunit”?
10. What was characteristic of early detective stories?
11. What kinds of stories did they prefer after World War I in England? Who was the most
popular author?
12. What kind of stories have police officers as main characters? What are its characteristic
features?
13. Name some famous fictional detectives.
14. What is the legal thriller? What is the typical plot of a legal thriller?
15. What is the difference between mystery fiction and detective fiction?
16. What sustains the interest in mystery fiction? Is it a popular genre?

Task 7. Other Literary Genres

As a literary genre, romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in
Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Unlike the novel (nouvelle romaine or "new
romance") the romance dealt with traditional themes, above all three thematic cycles of tales,
assembled in imagination at a late date as the Matter of Rome (actually centered on the life and
deeds of Alexander the Great), the Matter of France (Charlemagne and Roland, his principal
paladin) and the Matter of Britain (the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table, within which was incorporated the quest for Holy Grail).
Many medieval romances recount the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight,
often of super-human ability, who, abiding chivalry's strict codes of honour and demeanour,
fights and defeats monsters and giants, thereby winning favour with a beautiful but fickle
princess. The story of the medieval romance focuses not upon love and sentiment, but upon
adventure; some would call contemporary comic books and sci-fi the genre's successors.

Historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more
generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. The historical novel
was popularized in the 19th century by artists classified as Romantics. Many regard Sir Walter
Scott as the first to have used this technique, in his novels of Scottish history such as Waverley
(1814) and Rob Roy (1818). His Ivanhoe (1820) gains credit for renewing interest in the Middle
Ages. Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) furnishes another early example of
the historical novel.
Historical fiction may center on historical or on fictional characters, but usually represents
an honest attempt based on considerable research (or at least serious reading) to tell a story set in
the historical past as understood by the author's contemporaries. Those historical settings may
not stand up to the enhanced knowledge of later historians.

The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or
a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes
sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often a thematic device used to portray
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particular historical events, changes of social circumstances, or the ebb and flow of fortunes
from a multiple of perspectives. The typical family saga follows generations of a family through
a period of history in a series of novels.

Psychological novel is a work of prose fiction which places more than the usual amount of
emphasis on interior characterization, and on the motives, circumstances, an internal action
which springs from, and develops, external action. The psychological novel is not content to
state what happens but goes on to explain the why and the wherefore of this action. In this type
of writing character and characterization are more than usually important. The first rise of the
psychological novel as a genre is said to have started with the sentimental novel of which
Samuel Richardson's Pamela is a prime example.

The adventure novel is a literary genre that has adventure, an exciting undertaking
involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. Adventure has been a common theme
since the earliest days of written fiction.
Indeed, the standard plot of Mediaeval romances was a series of adventures. Following a
plot framework a hero would undergo a first set of adventures before he met his lady. A
separation would follow, with a second set of adventures leading to a final reunion. Variations
kept the genre alive.
From the mid 19th century onwards, when mass literacy grew, adventure became a popular
subgenre of fiction. Examples of that period include Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, H. Rider
Haggard, Louis Henri Boussenard, Thomas Mayne Reid, and, most impressive artistically,
Robert Louis Stevenson.

Thriller fiction, sometimes called suspense fiction, is a genre of literature that typically
entails fast-paced plots, numerous action scenes, and limited character development. It is
sometimes called suspense fiction because of the heightened level of stress or excitement that it
induces in the reader. Along with the aforementioned suspense fiction, it has more than a dozen
sub-genres, including action-adventure thriller, techno-thriller, conspiracy thriller, medical
thriller, serial killer thriller, political thriller, military thriller, romantic thriller, legal thriller,
forensic thriller, and spy fiction.

Ex.1. Find the English equivalents:

Рассказывают о приключениях, благородный рыцарь-герой, придерживаться строгих
правил чести и поведения, побеждать чудовищ, легкомысленная принцесса, поиски
Святого Грааля, история происходит во время реальных исторических событий,
предшествует времени жизни автора, взаимосвязанные семьи, изображать исторические
события, упор на внутреннюю характеристику, захватывающие приключения, связанные с
риском и физической опасностью, проходить через ряд приключений, воссоединение,
вызывать стресс у читателя.

Ex.2. Look at the title of the text. What do you think airport novels are?

Airport novels represent a literary genre that is not so much defined by its plot or cast of
stock characters, as much as it is by the social function it serves. An airport novel is typically a
fairly long but fast-paced novel of intrigue or adventure that is stereotypically found in the
reading fare offered by airport newsstands for travellers to read in the rounds of sitting and
waiting that constitute air travel. Perhaps it will be finished in the hotel room that awaits them at
the end of the journey; perhaps it will be saved for the return trip. In French, such novels are
called romans de gare, "railway station novels", suggesting that writers in France were aware of
this potential market at an even earlier date.

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 An airport novel must necessarily be superficially engaging, while not being particularly
profound or philosophical, or at least, without such content being necessary for enjoyment of the
book. The reader is not a person alone, in a quiet setting, contemplating deep thoughts or
savouring fine writing; the reader is being jostled and penned among strangers, and seeks
distraction from the boredom and inconveniences of travel. The writer of an airport novel must
meet the needs of readers in this situation.
Airport novels are always paperback books of a small but thick format. These books are
seldom made to last, printed on inexpensive newsprint, and they often begin to fall apart after
one or two readings. This is not a problem for their intended purpose; they are made to be bought
on impulse, and their readers often discard them when finished.
Airport novels are typically quite long books; a book that a reader was able to finish before
the journey was done would similarly be unsatisfying. Because of this length, the genre attracts
prolific authors, who use their output as a sort of branding; each author is identified with a
certain sort of story, and produces many variations of the same thing. Well known authors'
names are in letters larger than the title on the covers of airport novels, often in embossed letters.
A number of literary genres dominate the airport novel market. Complex and byzantine
plots involving world-spanning or multigeneration conspiracies are often found. Spy fiction,
political thrillers, techno-thrillers, legal fiction and similar tales of espionage or intrigue make up
a large chunk of the market. Romances, especially romances involving wealthy jet set characters,
also loom large in the genre. Some historical fiction occurs, especially multigenerational family
sagas or tales that take place over the course of decades or centuries in a colourful location.
Science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction are conspicuous by their absence, even if the
tales of espionage and intrigue often mention fantastic technologies. Wizards and space explorers
do not seem to make the airport novel reader's heart beat faster; spies, government and military
officials, and powerful business executives do. Perhaps as a consequence, airport novel writers
tend to be more conservative in politics than other writers do. The cover of an airport novel is
often a painting that depicts a collage of attractive women and action scenes.

Ex.3. Find the English equivalents:

Роман с быстро развивающимся сюжетом, запас книг, легкий и увлекательный, не
особенно глубокомысленный, погружаться в глубокие мысли, смаковать прекрасный
стиль, искать спасения от скуки, разваливаться, покупать, поддаваясь импульсу,
выбрасывать, плодовитый автор, рельефные/ тисненные буквы, замысловатый сюжет,
рассказы о шпионаже и интригах, узкий круг путешественников/ международная элита.

Ex.4. Answer the questions

1. What is an airport novel?
2. What should an airport novel be like?
3. In what atmosphere is an airport novel usually read?
4. Describe the quality of a book containing an airport novel.
5. What kind of authors create airport novels?
6. What genres dominate in airport novel market?

"Chick lit" is a term used to denote a genre of popular fiction written for and marketed to
young women, especially single, working women in their twenties. The genre's creation was
spurred on, if not exactly created, in the mid-1990s with the appearance of Helen Fielding's
Bridget Jones's Diary and similar works; it continued to sell well in the 2000s, with chick-lit
titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick-lit.
Chick-lit features hip, stylish female protagonists, usually in their twenties or early thirties,
in urban settings, and follows their love lives and struggles in business (often the publishing or
advertising industries). The books usually feature an irreverent tone and frank sexual themes.

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 Aside from its obvious source ("chick" is an American slang term for young woman and
"lit" is short for "literature"), the term "chick-lit" includes a reference to Chiclets brand chewing
gum, with the implication that readers of the genre are likely to be clichéd, unintellectual females
who chew gum and avoid "serious" literature.
However, the genre has also been claimed as a type of post-feminist fiction which covers
the breadth of the female experience which deals unconventionally with traditional romantic
themes of love, courtship and gender.
The male equivalent, spearheaded by authors such as Ben Elton, Mike Gayle, and Nick
Hornby, has sometimes been referred to as lad lit.

Ex. 5. Matching stories

Here are the opening and closing paragraphs of five different books. There is an
autobiography, a detective story, a romance, a spy story, and a fairy story. Read them
carefully and mulch them up.

1. I was born on 16 April 1889, at eight o'clock at night, in East Lane, Walworth. Soon
after, we moved to West Square, St George's Road, Lambeth. According to Mother my world
was a happy one. Our circumstances were moderately comfortable; we lived in three tastefully
furnished rooms. One of my early recollections was that each night before Mother went to the
Theatre, Sydney and I were lovingly tucked up in a comfortable bed and left in the care of the
housemaid.

2. 'I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man left on earth!"
Netta faced him defiantly, a tiny figure shaking with outrage, her spirit as fiery as the
colour of her copper curls.
'The feeling's mutual,' he snapped back through tight lips. 'Don't imagine I enjoy the
prospect of being saddled with you for a wife, for however short a time it maybe.'
'Then let's forget the whole crazy idea.'

3. At the palace, the King was glad to welcome his son's bride. He arranged a magnificent
wedding for the Prince and his chosen wife. The kings and queens, and the princes and
princesses from many lands came to the wedding. The wedding feast lasted a whole week. And
they all lived happily ever after.

4. With such happiness, I sometimes sit out on our terrace at sunset and look over a vast
green lawn to the lake in the distance, and beyond the lake to the reassuring mountains, and in
this mood think of nothing, but enjoy their magnificent serenity.

5. Once upon a time there was a little girl called Cinderella. Her mother was dead, and she
lived with her father and two elder sisters.
Cinderella's sisters were beautiful and fair of face, but because they were bad-tempered and
unkind, their faces grew to look ugly. They were jealous of Cinderella because she was a lovely
child, and so they were often unkind to her.

6. When I have finished writing, I shall enclose this whole manuscript in an envelope and
address it to Poirot. And then - what shall it be? Verona L? There would be a kind of poetic
justice. Not that I take any responsibility for Mrs Ferrars' death. It was the direct consequence of
her own actions. I feel no pity for her.
I have no pity for myself either.
So let it be Verona L.
But I wish Hercule Poirot had never retired from work and come here to grow vegetable
marrows.
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 7. Castle, ever since he had joined the firm as a young recruit more than thirty years ago,
had taken his lunch in a public house behind St James's Street, not far from the office. If he had
been asked why he lunched there, he would have referred to the excellent quality of the sausages;
he might have preferred a different bitter from Watney's. But the quality of the sausages
outweighed that. He was always prepared to account for his actions, even the most innocent, and
he was always strictly on time.

8. 'You didn't let me tell you how lovely you look,' he murmured after a long, sweet time
had passed between them. 'I tried to tell you, when you joined me in the ballroom tonight, but
you thought I was going to say you were late coming down.' He laughed softly at the memory,
and she joined in gaily. She had been wonderfully, blissfully on time. She started to tell him so.
But his lips claimed her own. Masterfully silencing the words that no longer needed to be
spoken.

9. Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17 th September - a Thursday. I was sent for at
eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been
dead some hours.
It was just a few minutes after nine when I reached home once more. I opened the front
door with my latchkey, and purposely delayed a few moments in the hall, hanging up my hat and
the light overcoat that I had deemed a wise precaution against the chill of an early autumn
morning. To tell the truth, I was considerably upset and worried.

10. She asked, 'Have you friends?'

'Oh yes, I'm not alone, don't worry, Sarah. There's an Englishman who used to be in the
British Council. He's invited me to his dacha in the country when the spring comes. When the
spring comes,' he repeated in a voice which she hardly recognized - it was the voice of an old
man who couldn't count with certainty on any spring to come.
She said, 'Maurice, Maurice, please go on hoping,' but in the long unbroken silence which
followed she realized that the line to Moscow was dead.

15