AHE 111

GREAT BOOKS

Karla Jane P. Cabiling, LPT, MAEd

Notre Dame of Marbel University

Elements of Prose Fiction
and
Intertextuality &
Foregrounding
Objective:
a. discuss the importance of
intertextuality, foregrounding,
and elements of fiction
INTERTEXTUALITY &
FOREGROUNDING
 Intertextuality
What is intertextuality?
• the shaping of a text’s meaning by the reading of other
texts or the interrelationship of texts.
• text within a text

Why do I need to study this?

a. intertextuality is everywhere.
intertextuality in films
newspaper and printed materials
advertising
b. to increase one’s awareness of how it is used in real life
 3 Main Types of Intertextuality

1. Appropriation- the reuse, reinterpretation, adaptation

(from comics to movie, movie to stage play etc.) and
reimagination of an existing text to make it new.
 3 Main Types of Intertextuality

2. Allusion- the reader has to make the connection. It

assumes that the writer and the reader are part of “the same
cultural experience”. It is without a direct reference.
 3 Main Types of Intertextuality

3. Parody -A funny imitation of a serious piece of literature.

It “pokes fun” at something to entertain an audience or reader.
As, postulated by Mukarovsky, a literary, linguistic, and
aesthetic theorist, it is the intentional violation of the
scheme by means of which an item brought into artistic
emphasis and thus stands out from its background.
 It is essentially a technique for 'making strange' in
language, a method of 'defamiliarization' in textual
composition.

Whether the foregrounded pattern deviates from a norm,

or whether it replicates a pattern through parallelism, the
point of foregrounding as a stylistic strategy is that it
should acquire salience in the act of drawing attention to
itself (Simpson 2004).
 Two Types of Foregrounding
Foregrounding is realized by linguistic deviation and
linguistic parallelism.

1. Deviation
• A phenomenon when a set of rules or expectations is broken in
some way. Such as when a font has just changed. This deviation
from expectation produces the effect of foregrounding, which
attracts attention, aids memorability, and may enrich one’s
understanding of the text.
Example
 Example

SHE is here,
now,
today.
But
tomorrow,
Gone.
2. Parallelism
• A rhetorical device characterized by over
regularity or repetitive structures
Parallelism is more than just a repetition of sentence
structure. The thoughts expressed by the repeating pattern
are also repeated. When we talk of things being in
parallel, then the things are of equal force and have the
same tone.

Example:
He was a tender young man, he was a gentle young man,
he was an affectionate young man. He was the man
everyone wanted.

In the example above, the repeating thought is that of a

young man of very warm affection.
Parallelism aims at basically two things:

1. Reinforcing ideas of importance

If the writer wants to reinforce a certain idea or thought,

he will repeat it by using a cyclic pattern: he will repeat
sentence structure or word order.

The overall effect is that the reader will notice the point
that he wants to emphasize and pay particular attention to
it.
Parallelism aims at basically two things:

2. Making the text more pleasurable to the reader

It also aims at pleasuring the reader. We are naturally

musical by nature and are sensitive to rhythm. Not only
do we notice rhythmical patterns, but we also enjoy them.
Thus, a passage imbued with parallelism is enjoyable and
memorable.
 Significance of Understanding Foregrounding

• It presupposes some motivation on the part of the writer &

some explanation on the part of the reader.

• It is part of the meaning of the work & bears on its artistic

evaluation; without its interpretation we miss a good deal
of what is communicated and a great deal of the beauty of
the style underhand.

• It may effect a disruption of the normal process of

communication , yet the fact remains that it is the element
of interest & surprise which attracts the attention & urges
the reader to find out an explanation for it , to rationalize it.
 Significance of Understanding Foregrounding

•  It
strikes the reader with something unusual or uncommon
& leads to " a focus, or better,  a refocusing on the text " .

•  It deautomatizes the language & causes a focusing of

attention on the deviant sequences.

• It enriches the text in which it occurs because, unlike the

normal discourse, it becomes liable to more than one
interpretation. This is due to the fact that no absolute
explanation can be provided for a deviant sequence.
 ELEMENTS
OF PROSE FICTION
 Six Major Elements:
1. Character -In fictional literature, authors use many
different types of characters to tell their stories.
Types of Characters:

a. Dynamic - A dynamic character is a person

who changes over time, usually as a result of resolving a
central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic
characters tend to be central rather than peripheral
characters, because resolving the conflict is the major role
of central characters.
 Six Major Elements:

b. Static - A static character is someone who does not

change over time; his or her personality does not
transform or evolve.

c. Round - A rounded character is anyone who has

a complex personality; he or she is often portrayed as a
conflicted and contradictory person.

d. Flat - A flat character is the opposite of a round

character. This literary personality is notable for one kind
of personality trait or characteristic.
 Six Major Elements:

2. Plot - the major events that move the action in a

narrative. It is the sequence of major events in a story,
usually in a cause-effect relation.

3. Conflict- the struggle that characters have to contend to

Types of conflict:
Man vs. Self, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Society, Man vs.
Nature, Man vs. Machine
 Six Major Elements:

4. Setting – The combination of place, historical time,

and social conditions that provide the general
background for the characters and plot of a literary
work. The general setting of a work may differ from
the specific setting of an individual scene or event.It
also includes the mood or atmosphere-- the feeling
created at the beginning of the story.
5. Theme(s) - The central and dominating idea (or
ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a
message or moral implicit in any work of art.
 Six Major Elements:

6. Point of View - the vantage point from which a

narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first-
person or third-person point of view. In a narrative told
from a first-person perspective, the author tells the story
through a character who refers to himself or herself as "I."
Meanwhile, third –person narratives come in two types:
omniscient and limited.
First Person

A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling

in which a storyteller recounts events from their
own point of view using the first person i.e. "I" or
"we", etc. It may be narrated by a first person
protagonist or first person peripheral.
First Person Peripheral

the narrator is another character in the story, one

who witnesses the main character's story and
conveys it to the reader. The peripheral narrator
may be a part of the action but he is not the focus.
Second Person
 This is the point of view you take when you are speaking
directly to the reader. You address them directly as “you.” 

Example: You are not the kind of guy who would be at a

place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are,
and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar,
although the details are fuzzy.

Jay McInerney, “Bright Lights, Big City

Third Person
 Instead of saying “you,” you speak to the readers as if
they are not part of the conversation. The third-person
point of view belongs to the person (or people) being
talked about. The third-person pronouns include he, him,
his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them,
their, theirs, and themselves.

Example: The buyer will love this product because he will

be able to use it to save time.
Third Person Omniscient and Third Person Limited
A trick to remembering the difference between omniscient
and limited is if you think of yourself (the writer) as a kind of
god. As such, you're able to see everyone's thoughts—you
are omniscient, or all-knowing.

If on the other hand, you're a mere mortal, then you only

know what is going on inside the heart and mind of one
person. Therefore, your perspective is limited
THANK YOU!