lessonplot情节byemforster

Lesson 7 Plot 情节 by E. M. Forster 让我们给情节下一个定义，我们已经把故事定义为按时间叙事。情节也是叙事，只是重点放在因果关系上。“国王死了后来王后死了”，是故事。“国王死了，而王后因悲痛国王而死”，是情节。时间顺序被保存不好，但因果关系使它在阴影下不好了。或者说，“王后死了，没人知道为什么。直到最后人们才发现，是死于对国王驾崩的哀痛。”这是一个富有神秘色彩的情节，是一个能够向纵深发展的形式。它暂时不考虑时间顺序，把它悬了起来。它在故事允许的范围内，远离了故事情节。看看王后的死。如果是故事，我们说，“后来呢？”如果是情节，我们问，“为什么？”这是小说的两个方面的根本区别。情节不能对那些只知道傻呆呆咧大嘴的原始穴居人讲，也不能给专制的君主苏丹讲，还不能讲给他们的后代，即那些现代影迷们听。因为这些人只知道问，“后来呢，后来呢？”否则他们就会打瞌睡。他们只有好奇心。然而，读情节需要理解力和记忆力。 好奇心是人类最低的一种能力。你会注意到在日常生活中，那些好奇的人，通常记忆力都很坏。他们蠢到了底。张口就问你有几个兄弟姐妹的人，永远不是富有同情心的人。如果你一年以后再碰到他，他还是会问你，你有几个兄弟姐妹。他问你的时候,还是（像一年前一样）嘴张得大大的，眼睛鼓得圆圆的。和这样的人交朋友是很困难的。两个好奇的人几乎根本不能成为朋友。好奇只能使人对事物有肤浅的了解，对小说的理解也深不了，只是听听故事而已。如果我们想抓住情节，我们就要有理解力和记忆力。 先说理解力。聪明的读者,不像好奇的人，他不只是扫一眼新的事实，而是记住它。他从二方面看它。一方面，它是孤立的；另一方面,它又和从前几页看到的事实有联系。现在他可能还不理解它，而且也不企图马上就会理解它。在一个组织得很好的小说(如《自私自利的人》)中，事实多半是相互交叉的。理想的读者不期望在最后达到高潮前理解它。这种惊奇和神秘的成分—有时人们干脆空洞地叫它“侦探成分”—对情节应是十分重要的。它打断故事发展的思路。谜是时间上的一个口袋、一个包袱(相声上叫甩包袱)。它出现得很唐突，就象“为什么王妃死了？”而在那有意安排，不讲明的动作和话语中，真正的意思在前几页就已经提到了。神秘对情节是必须的。没有理解力就不能鉴赏它。对好奇的人，只能是“后来呢”。而鉴赏神秘，一定要留一部分脑力来思索，而让其他部分继续往下看事实。 这就把我们带到第二个条件上了：记忆力 记忆力和理解力密切相关。因为记不住，就懂不了。如果到王妃死时，我们忘记还有过国王的事，我们就永远不知道她是为什么死的。编情节的人希望我们能够记住。我们希望他把他讲的都能用上，不要留着断了的线头。情节应该简洁而留有余地。即使复杂，也必须是有机地联系着。不应该生拉硬扯。它可以曲折, 也可以平淡。它可以也应该有神秘的色彩。但它不应该误导读者。当它展开的时候,记忆力应该围绕它转（在心灵的炭火中，理解力是闪亮的前进的动力）。记忆力要不停顿地重新组织、重新考虑，找新线索，找新的因果关系。最后的感觉（如果情节是好的话）,不应再是线索和一个个孤立的环节，而应是一种巧妙紧凑之美、是一种完全可以被小说家直接了当讲出来的、但是又不能直言的美。因为他要是讲破了,它就不成其为美了。(小说家不应该一味追求美，但是如果他没有把美表露出来，他却又失败了。) 在我们的研究中, 我们第一次谈到美。以后我们在适当的章节还会讨论美。现在请大家先把它作为情节的一部分接受下来。美有时看上去有点意外。但美感本来就应该有一点意外。意外是最适合她的颜面的一种面部表情。BOTTICELLI懂得这一点。所以他画的风与花簇拥的出水维那斯,就带着一种意外的神情。如果美看上丝毫没有惊奇的神情,如果美被当之无愧地接受,我们就不禁会联想到歌剧中高傲的女主角。 1. 1) Does Forster assume that 他的读者读过很多或者很少? This is a lecture to the students at Cambridge. He does not assume they know a lot about literature. They may know a lot about other fields and have read on other subjects, so he makes mere literary allusions, not details references. 2) Is this purpose anything more than to make understand what plot means? His purpose is also to teach the students to be intelligent novel readers, and to convince the reader that mere stories are low class. 2. 1) What is the genus of plot? The genus of plot is narrative. 2) Name other things belong to the same family. What characteristic of plot differentiates it from them? Narratives can be cyclical stories, myth or mystical stories, travel accounts, news reports, journals, and chronological records, etc. Causality differentiates plot from the others. 3) Does Forster differentiate plot explicitly or implicitly? Mr. Forster differentiates plot explicitly. 3. How do the last 2 sentences organize? The last two sentences are organizing sentences. Curiosity: the second paragraph. Intelligence: the third paragraph. Memory: the fifth paragraph. 4. 1) Can they be the part of a definition of a plot? Essential or accidental? Curiosity, intelligence and memory are not directly related to a plot, but they are essential to the definition. They can be part of a definition of a plot. 2) Add to 3 paragraph so that … become part of his formal definition A plot is … a narrative of events, the emphasis falling upon causality, which requires of a reader not only curiosity but also intelligence and memory. 5. Why set off a short sentence as a paragraph? The short sentence in line 50 serves as a transition. 6. 1) Call mind well-known narratives The creation of the earth, King Yu conquers the floods, The Arabian nights 2) Should the writer named novels in 1st paragraph? If particular novels had been named, they should have puzzled those students who haven't read them. 7. Explain how the occasion of his writing influence Because it is a lecture, Mr. Forester uses rather loose structure (ll 57-67), sentence fragment (e.g. Intelligence first), and short sentences (ll 1-18). 8. 1) Why the writer say” let us define a plot”? Mr. Foster begins by saying, ‘Let us define a plot.” Thus he declares right away the topic of his lecture, catching the audience’s attention and helping them concentrate their minds immediately on the point. 2) Is that beginning more effective for his purpose than this opening:…? Without this imperative sentence, the audience would not know how to direct their attention. 3) How does he vary his sentence structure? Mr. Foster varies his sentences by using hortatory（劝告，激励）： let us; imperative: Consider the death…; fragmentary: intelligence first; periodic sentence: ll 53-54; compound-complex: ll 51-52; and inverted sentence: ll 59-67 9. Look up faculties, natural powers or abilities organic, of living things Botticelli, Italian painter Prima donna, a temperamental, conceited person cross-correspondence: a complicated pattern of relationships between a group of people 10. 1) Why does the writer refer to a “tyrannical sultan”? Tyrannical sultan indicates the sultan in Arabian Nights, a narrative without a plot. This allusion, Mr. Forster thinks, is typically well-known to his listeners and needs no explanation. 2) Explain what he means by “the detective element…” Although mystery is a key element of plot, a good plot is not just a mere mystery or a detective story; its final sense must be something beautiful. 3) Demonstrate how the writer use the connotations to express his preference. Mr. Foster uses some words of negative sense to describe those who have only curiosity. 11. Describe the writer’s tone and point of view. What’s the advantage? The tone of this article is highly discriminatory（辩别性的）and elitist（名流） Mr. Foster writes it in the view point of an expert. Its advantage is that he does not have to justify what he says, e.g. he does not have to appeal to other authorities — he himself is the authoritative expert.