英语短篇小说常识与名作研读

    本书是上海市高等学校教育高地建设项目，是为普通高校英语专业本科生编写的文学教材。本书共20章，分两大部分。第一部分为英语短篇小说结构要素分析，第二部分为当今西方通用的文学批评方法。每章除了基础理论的介绍，还有选文作者的介绍、相关评论、英文注释、思考问题及答案。本书可作为英语专业学生必修课和选修课教材之用．也可供英语爱好者提高文学修养之用。

　　Chapter l  Plot
　  Stories are based on life．but life as it is cannot be a story．For lifc tO become a stoi'y，it needs to be clipped and shaped,and that is plotting．In“A乙P”(present chapter)JohnUpdike writes only about those events that suggest a basicconflict between conformity and independence，thus creatmg aplot by imposing order and unity on his material．Plot is notmerely the sum total of events or their sequence．Rather it isthe organizing principle that controls the order of events，theselecting，ordering，and arranging of incidents to bring out theirimportance，their relationship and their mutual dependence．Tosay that some girls in bathing suits walk into an A＆P and thatSammy the clerk quits is to say only what happens．Actually thestory has this pattern：7he A＆P excludes nonconformity．Sammy admires the nonconformity of Queenie and the other twogirls who come into the A＆P in bathing suits．The three girlsare rebuffed by Lengel the manager．In protest Sammy decidesto quit．To review a story’S plot，therefore，iS to say somethingabout the connections between the events in the story。Becausea well—plotted story presents such a focused and controlled segmentof life，reading it offers US an insightful way of bringing orderand meaning to our own life experiences．
    The traditional plot follows with variations a basic designthat may be visualized as a line，which gradually rises，reachesa high point，and then moves downward．Although this designmay be varied，it usually manifests certain elements basic tomost fictional plots：exposition，conflict，complication，crisis，

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