पेज A beggar was coming down the avenue just as Mr. Parsons emerged from his hotel.
He was a blind beggar, carrying the traditional battered can, and thumping his way before him with the cautious, half-furtive effort of the sightless. He was a shaggy, thick-necked fellow; his coat was greasy about the lapels and pockets, and his hand splayed over the cane’s crook with a futile sort of clinging. He wore a black pouch slung over his shoulder. Apparently he had something to sell.
The air was rich with spring; sun was warm and yellowed on the asphalt. Mr. Parsons,
standing there in front of his hotel and noting the clack-clack approach of the sightless man, felt a sudden and foolish sort of pity for all blind creatures.
And, thought Mr. Parsons, he was very glad to be alive. A few years ago he had been
little more than a skilled laborer; now he was successful, respected, admired…
Insurance… And he had done it alone, unaided, struggling beneath handicaps… And he
was still young. The blue air of spring, fresh from its memories of windy pools and lush shrubbery, could thrill him with eagerness.
He took a step forward just as the tap-tapping blind man passed him by. Quickly the
shabby fellow turned.
"Listen guv’nor. Just a minute of your time."
Mr. Parsons said, "It’s late. I have an appointment. Do you want me to
give you something?"
"I ain’t no beggar, guv’nor. You bet I ain’t. I got a handy little article here" he
fumbled a small article into Mr. Parsons’ hand " that I sell. One buck. Best cigarette
lighter made."
Mr. Parsons stood there, somewhat annoyed and embarrassed. He was a handsome figure with his immaculate grey suit and grey hat and malacca stick. Of course, the man with the cigarette lighter could not see him…
"But I don’t smoke," he said.
"Listen. I bet you know plenty people who smoke. Nice little present," wheedled the man. "And, mister, you wouldn’t mind helping a poor guy out?" He clung to Mr. Parsons’
sleeve.
Mr. Parsons sighed and felt in his vest pocket. He brought out two half dollars and
pressed them into the man’s hand. "Certainly I’ll help you out. As you say, I can give it to someone. Maybe the elevator boy would " He hesitated, not wishing to be boorish and inquisitive, even with a blind peddlar. "Have you lost your sight entirely?"
The shabby man pocketed the two half dollars. "Fourteen years, guv’nor." Then he added with an insane sort of pride: "Westbury, sir, I was one of ‘em."
"Westbury," repeated Mr. Parsons. "Ah yes. The chemical explosion . . . the papers
haven’t mentioned it for years. But at the time it was supposed to be one of the greatest disasters in"
"They’ve all forgot about it." The fellow shifted his feet wearily. "I tell you, guv’nor, a
man who was in it don’t forget about it. Last thing I ever saw was C shop going up in one grand smudge, and that damn gas pouring in at all the busted windows."
Mr. Parsons coughed. But the blind peddler was caught up with the train of his one
dramatic reminiscence. And, also, he was thinking that there might be more half dollars in Mr. Parsons’ pocket.
"Just think about it, guv’nor. There was a hundred and eight people killed, about
two hundred injured, and over fifty of them lost their eyes. Blind as bats." He groped
forward until his dirty hand rested against Mr. Parsons’ coat. "I tell you sir, there wasn’t nothing worse than that in the war. If I had lost my eyes in the war, okay. I would have been well took care of. But, I was just a worker, working for what was in it. And I got it. You’re damn right I got it, while the capitalists were making their dough! They was insured, don’t worry about that. They "
"Insured," repeated his listener. "Yes, that’s what I sell. "
"You want to know how I lost my eyes?" cried the man. "Well, here it is!" His words fell with the bitter and studied drama of a story often told and told for money. "I was there in C shop, last of all the folks rushin’ out. Out in the air there was a chance, even with buildings exploding right and left. A lot of guys made it safe out the door and got away. And just when I was about there, crawling along between those big vats, a guy behind me grabs my leg. He says, ‘Let me past, you ! Maybe he was nuts. I
dunno. I try to forgive him in my heart, guv’nor. But he was bigger than me. He hauls me back and climbs right over me! Tramples me into the dirt. And he gets out, and I lie there with all that poison gas pouring down on all sides of me, and flame and stuff . . ." He swallowed -- a studied sob—and stood dumbly expectant. He could imagine the next words: Tough luck, my man. Damned tough luck. Now I want to "
That’s the story, guv’nor."
The spring wind shrilled past them, damp and quivering.
Not quite," said Mr. Parsons.
The blind peddlar shivered crazily. "Not quite? What do you mean, you ?--"
"The story is true," Mr. Parsons said, "except that it was the other way around."
"Other way around?" He croaked unamiably. "Say, guv’nor---"
"I was in C shop," said Mr. Parsons. "It was the other way around. You were the fellow
who hauled back on me and climbed over me. You were bigger than I was, Markwardt."
The blind man stood for a long time, swallowing hoarsely. He gulped: "Parsons. By
heaven. By heaven! I thought you--" And then he screamed fiendishly: "Yes. Maybe so.
Maybe so. But I’m blind! I’m blind, and you’ve been standing there letting me spout to
you, and laughing at me every minute of it! I’m blind!"
People in the street turned to stare at him.
"You got away but I’m blind! Do you hear? I’m---"
"Well," said Mr. Parsons, don’t make such a row about it, Markwardt…So am I."
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The Chaser By John Collier
Alan Austen, as nervous as a kitten, went up certain dark and creaky stairs in the neighborhood of Pell Street, and peered about for a long time on the dime landing before he found the name he wanted written obscurely on one of the doors.
He pushed open this door, as he had been told to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture but a plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of the dirty buff- coloured walls were a couple of shelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars. An old man sat in the rocking-chair,
reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had been given.
"Sit down, Mr. Austen," said the old man very politely.
"I am glad to make your acquaintance."
"Is it true," asked Alan, "that you have a certain mixture that has-er-quite extraordinary effects?"
"My dear sir," replied the old man, "my stock in trade is not very large-I don't deal in laxatives and teething mixtures-but such as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which could be precisely described as ordinary."
"Well, the fact is. . ." began Alan.
"Here, for example," interrupted the old man, reaching for a bottle from the shelf. "Here is a liquid as colourless as water, almost tasteless, quite imperceptible in coffee, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to any known method of autopsy."
"Do you mean it is a poison?" cried Alan, very much horrified.
"Call it a glove-cleaner if you like," said the old man indifferently. "Maybe it will clean gloves. I have never tried. One might call it a life-cleaner. Lives need cleaning sometimes."
"I want nothing of that sort," said Alan.
"Probably it is just as well," said the old man. "Do you know the price of this? For one teaspoonful, which is sufficient, I ask five thousand dollars. Never less. Not a penny less.
"I hope all your mixtures are not as expensive," said Alan apprehensively.
"Oh dear, no," said the old man. "It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion, for example. Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion."
"I am glad to hear that," said Alan.
"I look at it like this," said the old man. "Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs another. Even if it is more costly. He will save up for it, if necessary."
"So," said Alan, "you really do sell love potions?"
"If I did not sell love potions," said the old man, reaching for another bottle, "I should not have mentioned the other matter to you. It is only when one is in a position to oblige that one can afford to be so confidential."
"And these potions," said Alan. "They are not just-just-er"
"Oh, no," said the old man. "Their effects are permanent, and extend far beyond the mere casual impulse. But they include it. Oh, yes they include it. Bountifully, insistently. Everlastingly."
"Dear me!" said Alan, attempting a look of scientific detachment. "How very interesting!"
"But consider the spiritual side," said the old man.
"I do, indeed," said Alan.
"For indifference," said the old man, they substitute devotion. For scorn, adoration. Give one tiny measure of this to the young lady-its flavour is imperceptible in orange juice, soup, or cocktails-and however gay and giddy she is, she will change altogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you."
"I can hardly believe it," said Alan. "She is so fond of parties."
"She will not like them any more," said the old man. "She will be afraid of the pretty girls you may meet."
"She will actually be jealous?" cried Alan in a rapture. "Of me?"
"Yes, she will want to be everything to you."
"She is, already. Only she doesn't care about it."
"She will, when she has taken this. She will care intensely. You will be her sole interest in life."
"Wonderful!" cried Alan.
"She will want to know all you do," said the old man. "All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you are looking sad."
"That is love!" cried Alan.
"Yes," said the old man. "How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food. If you are an hour late, she will be terrified. She will think you are killed, or that some siren has caught you."
"I can hardly imagine Diana like that!" cried Alan, overwhelmed with joy.
"You will not have to use your imagination," said the old man. "And, by the way, since there are always sirens, if by any chance you should, later on, slip a little, you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end. She will be terribly hurt, of course, but she will forgive you-in the end."
"That will not happen," said Alan fervently.
"Of course not," said the old man. "But, if it did, you need not worry. She would never divorce you. Oh, no! And, of course, she will never give you the least, the very least, grounds for-uneasiness."
"And how much," said Alan, "is this wonderful mixture?"
"It is not as dear," said the old man, "as the glove-cleaner, or life-cleaner, as I sometimes call it. No. That is five thousand dollars, never a penny less. One has to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing. One has to save up for it."
"But the love potion?" said Alan.
"Oh, that," said the old man, opening the drawer in the kitchen table, and taking out a tiny, rather dirty-looking phial. "That is just a dollar."
"I can't tell you how grateful I am," said Alan, watching him fill it.
"I like to oblige," said the old man. "Then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want more expensive things. Here you are. You will find it very effective."
"Thank you again," said Alan. "Goodbye."
"Au revoir," said the man.
He pushed open this door, as he had been told to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture but a plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of the dirty buff- coloured walls were a couple of shelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars. An old man sat in the rocking-chair,
reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had been given.
"Sit down, Mr. Austen," said the old man very politely.
"I am glad to make your acquaintance."
"Is it true," asked Alan, "that you have a certain mixture that has-er-quite extraordinary effects?"
"My dear sir," replied the old man, "my stock in trade is not very large-I don't deal in laxatives and teething mixtures-but such as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which could be precisely described as ordinary."
"Well, the fact is. . ." began Alan.
"Here, for example," interrupted the old man, reaching for a bottle from the shelf. "Here is a liquid as colourless as water, almost tasteless, quite imperceptible in coffee, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to any known method of autopsy."
"Do you mean it is a poison?" cried Alan, very much horrified.
"Call it a glove-cleaner if you like," said the old man indifferently. "Maybe it will clean gloves. I have never tried. One might call it a life-cleaner. Lives need cleaning sometimes."
"I want nothing of that sort," said Alan.
"Probably it is just as well," said the old man. "Do you know the price of this? For one teaspoonful, which is sufficient, I ask five thousand dollars. Never less. Not a penny less.
"I hope all your mixtures are not as expensive," said Alan apprehensively.
"Oh dear, no," said the old man. "It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion, for example. Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion."
"I am glad to hear that," said Alan.
"I look at it like this," said the old man. "Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs another. Even if it is more costly. He will save up for it, if necessary."
"So," said Alan, "you really do sell love potions?"
"If I did not sell love potions," said the old man, reaching for another bottle, "I should not have mentioned the other matter to you. It is only when one is in a position to oblige that one can afford to be so confidential."
"And these potions," said Alan. "They are not just-just-er"
"Oh, no," said the old man. "Their effects are permanent, and extend far beyond the mere casual impulse. But they include it. Oh, yes they include it. Bountifully, insistently. Everlastingly."
"Dear me!" said Alan, attempting a look of scientific detachment. "How very interesting!"
"But consider the spiritual side," said the old man.
"I do, indeed," said Alan.
"For indifference," said the old man, they substitute devotion. For scorn, adoration. Give one tiny measure of this to the young lady-its flavour is imperceptible in orange juice, soup, or cocktails-and however gay and giddy she is, she will change altogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you."
"I can hardly believe it," said Alan. "She is so fond of parties."
"She will not like them any more," said the old man. "She will be afraid of the pretty girls you may meet."
"She will actually be jealous?" cried Alan in a rapture. "Of me?"
"Yes, she will want to be everything to you."
"She is, already. Only she doesn't care about it."
"She will, when she has taken this. She will care intensely. You will be her sole interest in life."
"Wonderful!" cried Alan.
"She will want to know all you do," said the old man. "All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you are looking sad."
"That is love!" cried Alan.
"Yes," said the old man. "How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food. If you are an hour late, she will be terrified. She will think you are killed, or that some siren has caught you."
"I can hardly imagine Diana like that!" cried Alan, overwhelmed with joy.
"You will not have to use your imagination," said the old man. "And, by the way, since there are always sirens, if by any chance you should, later on, slip a little, you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end. She will be terribly hurt, of course, but she will forgive you-in the end."
"That will not happen," said Alan fervently.
"Of course not," said the old man. "But, if it did, you need not worry. She would never divorce you. Oh, no! And, of course, she will never give you the least, the very least, grounds for-uneasiness."
"And how much," said Alan, "is this wonderful mixture?"
"It is not as dear," said the old man, "as the glove-cleaner, or life-cleaner, as I sometimes call it. No. That is five thousand dollars, never a penny less. One has to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing. One has to save up for it."
"But the love potion?" said Alan.
"Oh, that," said the old man, opening the drawer in the kitchen table, and taking out a tiny, rather dirty-looking phial. "That is just a dollar."
"I can't tell you how grateful I am," said Alan, watching him fill it.
"I like to oblige," said the old man. "Then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want more expensive things. Here you are. You will find it very effective."
"Thank you again," said Alan. "Goodbye."
"Au revoir," said the man.
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Advantages of Multicultural Societies
The Advantages of Multicultural Societies
Today, migrating to other countries has been a common thing. Many people live, study, and work in other countries to get better lives. However it is undeniable that migrating gets an effect of multicultural societies. The people must adapt to different culture in the country they live. They will accept the new culture from the new society they live in daily activities. The different cultures coexist in one country. People accept multicultural societies because multicultural society has some advantages.
First, people can know different culture of other countries. They learn other culture which they often see everyday. They learn it because they have to adapt to the culture where they live. By knowing the different culture people will experiences and rich of knowledge about culture that they may choose the most appropriate to be applied in daily life.
Second, Live in multicultural culture is very interesting. Such multicultural culture has divergent culture with different types of people. How monotonous this world if only in a society only exist one culture. Sometimes people will boring and do not get the variation in seeing the habit of people. If people have learnt the cultures each other, they will respect to them. Respecting another culture is important in multicultural societies in order to live in peace through diversity. Like in USA, Americans live peacefully with the people who have the different cultures. They really respected the individual freedom and plurality.
Third, people can bring the good culture from different cultures which they have learnt. They will take the advantage and absorb the thing that useful for their own culture. Of course it must not be contradicted to their own culture. It will enrich their culture.
One cultural society is not more desirable than multicultural ones. A lot of countries welcome the different cultures as the new culture in their countries. Accepting new culture will add our basic culture which we have. Since we still preserve our own culture and it is not contradicted to our culture.
Today, migrating to other countries has been a common thing. Many people live, study, and work in other countries to get better lives. However it is undeniable that migrating gets an effect of multicultural societies. The people must adapt to different culture in the country they live. They will accept the new culture from the new society they live in daily activities. The different cultures coexist in one country. People accept multicultural societies because multicultural society has some advantages.
First, people can know different culture of other countries. They learn other culture which they often see everyday. They learn it because they have to adapt to the culture where they live. By knowing the different culture people will experiences and rich of knowledge about culture that they may choose the most appropriate to be applied in daily life.
Second, Live in multicultural culture is very interesting. Such multicultural culture has divergent culture with different types of people. How monotonous this world if only in a society only exist one culture. Sometimes people will boring and do not get the variation in seeing the habit of people. If people have learnt the cultures each other, they will respect to them. Respecting another culture is important in multicultural societies in order to live in peace through diversity. Like in USA, Americans live peacefully with the people who have the different cultures. They really respected the individual freedom and plurality.
Third, people can bring the good culture from different cultures which they have learnt. They will take the advantage and absorb the thing that useful for their own culture. Of course it must not be contradicted to their own culture. It will enrich their culture.
One cultural society is not more desirable than multicultural ones. A lot of countries welcome the different cultures as the new culture in their countries. Accepting new culture will add our basic culture which we have. Since we still preserve our own culture and it is not contradicted to our culture.
Monday, May 25, 2009
THE FANTASTIC AS A MODE
THE FANTASTIC AS A MODE
The Fantastic derives from the Latin, phantasticus, meaning that which is made visible, visionary, unreal. A fantasy is story based on and controlled by an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility; it is the narrative result of transforming the condition contrary to fact into “fact” itself (Irwin, p.x)
The menippea was a traditional form of fantastic art and it exhibits crucial links with carnival as well as crucial differences between its celebrations of misrule and the disorder found in less festive modern fantasies.
Modern fantasy is severed from its root in carnivalesque art: it is no longer a communal form.
Dostoevsky frequently writes of a fantastic literature as being the only appropriate medium for suggesting a sense of estrangement, of alienation from ‘natural’ origin.
Sartre claims, fantasy assumes its proper function: to transform this world. The fantastic, in becoming humanized, approaches the ideal purity of its essence, becomes what it had been. Without a context of faith in supernaturalism (whether sacred or secular), fantasy is an expression of human forces.
The ‘real’ under scrutiny
Paraxis is telling notion in relation to the place, or space, of the fantastic, for it implies an inextricable link to the man body of the ‘real’ which it shades and treathens.
The best theoretical study of fantasy as a mode defined by its ‘rationality’, i.e. by its positioning in relation to the real is Irene Bessiere le Recit fantastique: la poetique de L’incertain (1974).
Formalis theories explained that the basic trope of fantasy is the oxymoron, a figure of speech which holds together contradiction and sustains them in an impossible unity, without progressing toward synthesis. Several literary critics said that Fantasy is kind of extended narrative which establishes and develops an antifact, that is, plays the game of impossible… a fantasy story based on and controlled by an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility( Irwin, p.ix). Caillois also defined that fantastic is always break in the acknowledged order, an irruption of the inadmissible within the changeless everyday legality images do not examine narrative structures. Titles of many fantasies indicate this opening activity, often linking into notions of (1) invisibility, (2) impossibility, (3)transformation, (4) defiant illusion.
The fantastic requires the fulfillment of three conditions. 1. The text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and to hesitate between a natural and supernatural explanation of the event described. 2. The readers role is entrusted to characters…the hesitation is represented, it becomes one of themes of the work. 3. The reader must adopt a certain attitude with regard to the text: he will reject allegorical as well as poetic interpretation.
Todorov represents the different kinds of fantasy diagrammatically
Pure uncanny
Fantastic uncanny
Fantastic Marvelous
Pure marvelous
Themes of the fantastic in literature revolve around this problem of making visible the un-seen, of articulating un-said.
Themes can be clustered into several related areas: (1) invisibility, (2), transformation (3), dualism (4) good versus evil. Two groups of fantastic themes based on Todorov: those dealing with the “I” and those dealing with”not-I”.
There are two kinds of myth in fantasy: Frankenstein type of myth, source of metamorphosis or strangeness within the self and Dracula type of myth, otherness is established through a fusion of self with something out side , producing a new form, an ‘other’ reality.
References
Rosemary Jackson,1981, FANTASY: The Literature of Subversion, Metheun: London and New York
The Fantastic derives from the Latin, phantasticus, meaning that which is made visible, visionary, unreal. A fantasy is story based on and controlled by an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility; it is the narrative result of transforming the condition contrary to fact into “fact” itself (Irwin, p.x)
The menippea was a traditional form of fantastic art and it exhibits crucial links with carnival as well as crucial differences between its celebrations of misrule and the disorder found in less festive modern fantasies.
Modern fantasy is severed from its root in carnivalesque art: it is no longer a communal form.
Dostoevsky frequently writes of a fantastic literature as being the only appropriate medium for suggesting a sense of estrangement, of alienation from ‘natural’ origin.
Sartre claims, fantasy assumes its proper function: to transform this world. The fantastic, in becoming humanized, approaches the ideal purity of its essence, becomes what it had been. Without a context of faith in supernaturalism (whether sacred or secular), fantasy is an expression of human forces.
The ‘real’ under scrutiny
Paraxis is telling notion in relation to the place, or space, of the fantastic, for it implies an inextricable link to the man body of the ‘real’ which it shades and treathens.
The best theoretical study of fantasy as a mode defined by its ‘rationality’, i.e. by its positioning in relation to the real is Irene Bessiere le Recit fantastique: la poetique de L’incertain (1974).
Formalis theories explained that the basic trope of fantasy is the oxymoron, a figure of speech which holds together contradiction and sustains them in an impossible unity, without progressing toward synthesis. Several literary critics said that Fantasy is kind of extended narrative which establishes and develops an antifact, that is, plays the game of impossible… a fantasy story based on and controlled by an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility( Irwin, p.ix). Caillois also defined that fantastic is always break in the acknowledged order, an irruption of the inadmissible within the changeless everyday legality images do not examine narrative structures. Titles of many fantasies indicate this opening activity, often linking into notions of (1) invisibility, (2) impossibility, (3)transformation, (4) defiant illusion.
The fantastic requires the fulfillment of three conditions. 1. The text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and to hesitate between a natural and supernatural explanation of the event described. 2. The readers role is entrusted to characters…the hesitation is represented, it becomes one of themes of the work. 3. The reader must adopt a certain attitude with regard to the text: he will reject allegorical as well as poetic interpretation.
Todorov represents the different kinds of fantasy diagrammatically
Pure uncanny
Fantastic uncanny
Fantastic Marvelous
Pure marvelous
Themes of the fantastic in literature revolve around this problem of making visible the un-seen, of articulating un-said.
Themes can be clustered into several related areas: (1) invisibility, (2), transformation (3), dualism (4) good versus evil. Two groups of fantastic themes based on Todorov: those dealing with the “I” and those dealing with”not-I”.
There are two kinds of myth in fantasy: Frankenstein type of myth, source of metamorphosis or strangeness within the self and Dracula type of myth, otherness is established through a fusion of self with something out side , producing a new form, an ‘other’ reality.
References
Rosemary Jackson,1981, FANTASY: The Literature of Subversion, Metheun: London and New York
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sex and the city as chick lit Work?
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Definition of chick lit
Chick lit is a term used to denote genre fiction within women's fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties.
Women’s Fiction: Women's fiction, also known as "Chick Lit," is sometimes considered a sub-genre of romance. It borrows some elements of romance, yet does not necessarily focus on the pursuit of one relationship or the happily ever after ending. Chick Lit tends to feature sophisticated, savvy women in their 20s and 30s, although characters can be older or younger. (Defining the Genres
By Jennifer Crispin© 2004,
Jennifer Crisp in
http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue19/themedefine.htm )
The characters might bounce from man to man in search of the perfect relationship, or they might focus more on their friends and jobs. They are generally looking for a perfect something, whether it’s a perfect man, a perfect figure, a perfect job, or a perfect pair of shoes.
2. Sex and the City
a. Novel
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (Grand Central Publishing, 1997)
Have there ever been four more memorable female friends? Sometimes people forget that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte started as characters in a book. The novel sex and the city picture the brand minded glamour and also sexual relationship. It tells about the Bachelor and Spinsters and their life style.
b. Movie
Sex and the City took place in Manhattan in 2008. It is a spin off from the television show that ran for six seasons. At the very beginning of the movie, Carrie, the main character, starts out expressing that the only reason young women move to New York City is to shop for the labels and to fall in love. This foreshadows the entire film because it is about the designer clothing the characters wear and the different relationship problems each character has. After the series end, four years past, and the characters lives have all changed. Carrie Bradshaw, the main character, is dating her on and off again boyfriend Jonathan Big. They buy an apartment together and get engaged. The story consists of their up-and-down relationship. He gets cold feet the day of the wedding and her three best friends, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbes, and Samantha Jones, all go with her to Mexico, on the trip that was intended to be her and “Mr. Big’s” honeymoon. The rest of the movie shows how she deals with the pain of heartbreak and how her friends are there to help her
c. TV Series
The TV series differ from the movie and the novel. The novel gives imagination through the strong word. The movie is designed to be watch in the shorter time than the TV series. And TV series is picturing slower than the movie. The plot is designed to be enjoyed in different style. Sex and the City is an American cable television series. The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004, for a total of six seasons. ( www.answer.com )
B. DISCUSSION
Chick lit at actually derived from Chick American slang term for young woman and lit is short for literature. The phrase chick lit is analogous to the term chick flick. The definition of chick lit varies widely and tinged with shades of backlash. Carole Desanti, the United States editor for Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones Diary) and Melissa Banks (The girls’ Guide to Hunting and fishing) notes:
Initially women writers were trying to find a way to write about their lived experience that was vibrant and authentic and creative and artful. Now there is a range definitions for chick lit, but the one we seem to be settling in with is the one that trivialize and dismisses it (Danford, N. 2003, “is chick lit still chick?”, publisher weekly, vol.250, no.42. pp.5-20)
Ferris and Young state that to list potentially compelling themes in chick lit: identity, sexuality, friendship as family, and balancing work and relationship.
The term chick lit has versus namely lad lit or Dick lit means literature written by men, with the main character being male. It is classified under the chick lit because the tone is very similar to chick lit’s tone. The men in these books are often going through dating, work scenarios, love, family issues and more. Another term is "Mommy Lit" namely a spin off from Chick Lit the new genre of chick lit. As the name suggests, Mommy Lit focuses on women dealing with new motherhood. Chick Lit and Mommy Lit tend to be humorous and irreverent. They often focus on ordinary details of women’s lives in a way that other woman-focused genres might not. These are not yet official genres, but there are certain publishing houses that have imprints specifically for publishing Chick Lit and Mommy Lit.
The Kinds of Chick lit
There are two kinds of chick lit:
There's the straight-up kind, offered with no pretense or apology, identifiable by the high-heeled shoe, martini glass or gown on its cover, and then there's lit chick lit, which attempts to straddle the conventions of chick lit and the ambitions of literary fiction.
To put it another way, lit chick lit dresses the bones of chick lit in a less conventional dress than the polka-dotted gown pictured on the cover of Katie Crouch's first novel, "Girls in Trucks."
The Formula of Chick lit
Is there a Chick Lit formula, or certain “must haves”?
I think some of the earlier books in the Chick Lit genre could have been called formulaic, but now the genre has evolved and broadened to encompass a wide range of complex issues. I think the problem with Chick Lit - if it has one - is that because all the books tend to be packaged and marketed in the same sort of way, it’s very hard to tell the quality of the contents from the covers. It all tends to look the same, but in the genre there is everything from young women struggling with career and boyfriend problems to more mature women coping with complex relationship and lifestyle issues. ‘Must haves’ for me include a strong, feisty heroine who solves her own problems while keeping a dozen balls in the air - normal, everyday stuff! It helps if there’s a drop-dead gorgeous hero somewhere in there too… : )
There's some variation in the chick lit world, of course, but the formula is as follows: Girl is guy-less; girl is miserable because she's guy-less; girl meets a seemingly unattainable guy (let's call him Prince Charming) whom the reader realizes is wonderful, but whom our heroine thinks is a prideful jerk; girl meets a second guy (let's call him Cad) whom she thinks is wonderful, but whom the reader realizes is a prideful jerk; girl gets romantically involved with Cad; Cad kicks girl to the curb; girl is rescued by Prince Charming. They live happily ever after.
Chick Lit Characters
Every stereotypical chick lit protagonist needs a supportive best friend. After all, "female friendship" is supposed to one of the themes in chick lit-- and in good chick lit, the author introduces interesting female friends. However, in stereotypical chick lit, there's no need to create a BFF who's any different from anyone else's. To be truly stereotypical, the supportive best friend must do all of the following:
Love shoe shopping with the protagonist.
Love eating ice cream with the protagonist. (Cosmos are optional.)
Console the protagonist about breakups.
Console the protagonist about her overbearing mother
Offer the protagonist wise advice about dating, including the fact that she really ought to be dating that nice guy in the office she keeps ignoring
The Overbearing Mother
The Guy She Ought to Fall in Love With
Why Sex and the city regarded as chick lit?
Chick Lit is huge right now — one of the fastest -growing genres in publishing today. Why are women crying out for these stories now, more than ever before? What are some of the current market trends?
Actually, Chick Lit is melding back into women’s fiction right now. Women are the largest portion of readers in the market, and they’re constant consumers. Right now, women are looking for more serious subjects, veering away from the traditional Chick Lit motifs like Sex In The City
How popular is sex and the city
Sex and the city is the third top ten chick lit in Penny Zang
Apr 19, 2008
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
(Grand Central Publishing, 1997)
Have there ever been four more memorable female friends? Sometimes people forget that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte started as characters in a book. You can thank Bushnell for all the future books about shopaholics with witty friends who also live in the city.
ISBN-13: 978-0446673549
(Http: \chik lit\Top Ten Chick Lit Novels A Beginner’s Guide to the Sub-genre of Women’s Fiction and Romance.mht)
Sex and the City is a collection of essays by Candace Bushnell based on her and her friends' lifestyles.[citation needed] It was first published in 1997, and re-published in 2001, 2006, and in 2008 as 10th anniversary movie tie-in edition.
( www. Wikipedia.org )
Sex and the city sold out
SUNDAY 9:00 a.m. (Pacific): Warner Bros. has told me this morning that Sex and the City scored an estimated $17.7 million on Saturday, and they are calling for $55.7 million for opening weekend
Kristin Davis' 'Sex and the City' Date Sold for 52,100 U.S. Dollar
March 26, 2008 03:47:38 GMT
A date with Kristin Davis to the "Sex and the City" movie premiere in New York City in May 2008 has been sold for a staggering $US52,100.
Sex and the City: The Movie was released nationwide May 30, 2008 and, as of December 24, 2008, has made $413,129,126 worldwide.
The Sex and the City: The Movie DVD was released on September 23, 2008.
(www.answer.com)
Box office performance
The film has experienced commercial success. Opening in 3,285 theaters, the film made $26.93 million in the US and Canada on its first day. The three-day opening weekend total was $57,038,404, aggregating $17,363 per theater. The film recorded the biggest opening ever for an R-rated comedy and for a romantic comedy,[19] and also for a film starring a woman.[20] As of October, 2008, the film has grossed $152,619,616 at the US and Canadian box office, and $256,274,667 in other markets, bringing the worldwide total gross revenue to $408,921,925. (www.answer.com)
The List of sex and the city episodes
Main article: List of Sex and the City episodes
Season Ep # First Airdate Last Airdate
Season 1
12 June 6, 1998 August 23, 1998
Season 2
18 June 6, 1999 October 3, 1999
Season 3
18 June 4, 2000 October 15, 2000
Season 4
18 June 3, 2001 February 10, 2002
Season 5
8 July 21, 2002 September 8, 2002
Season 6
20 June 22, 2003 February 22, 2004
What makes sex and the city interesting?
There are some comment from the readers about sex and the city. These comment show that sex and the city is popular chick lit.
" Fascinating... hilarious... Welcome to the cruel planet that is Manhattan. " — Los Angeles Times
" Sly... Sharp... Sex and the City succeeds. " — People
A woman has many things to worry about, being too successful, too beautiful, too smart, too rich, too accomplished...some guys may find the stupid, 20th C girls charming, but in the book, we can find four smart, beautiful, interesting, successful and confident women showing their life to us--a life about men, sex, and the city. --- lolita260 from Canton,China
“It has the ring of truth….. Sump up the fascinate Manhattan mind-set with considerable fair” – Jonathan Yardley, Washington post book world
“ A breath of fresh air… a forceful display of the merits of the journalistic approach to sexual relations … a realism that rivals Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities” __ Wall street Journal
“ Fun Bushnell is a skilled eaves dropper and a bright stylist revealing to us the soft underbelly of high society” ___ Newsday
“ Fascinating and hunting… an oddly touching collection.”___ Kirkus
Addictive….. a collection of witty, socially relevant vignetess” __ Elle
“ irrestible, hilarious, and horrific, stylishly written.”__ Bret Easton Ellis
“ Hilarious…. Entertaining…. Bushnell is a deft writer, possessing a sly sense of humor and sharp insight into human behavior” ____ People
C. CONCLUSION
Sex and the city is one of the popular chick lit. It sold out not only in America but also in Indonesia as well.
Its popularity makes the producer made into movie and also TV series as well.
In short chick lit can be a starting point for discussion of why women’s writing matters, the evolution of women writing, and the importance of women perspective in fiction.
1. Definition of chick lit
Chick lit is a term used to denote genre fiction within women's fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties.
Women’s Fiction: Women's fiction, also known as "Chick Lit," is sometimes considered a sub-genre of romance. It borrows some elements of romance, yet does not necessarily focus on the pursuit of one relationship or the happily ever after ending. Chick Lit tends to feature sophisticated, savvy women in their 20s and 30s, although characters can be older or younger. (Defining the Genres
By Jennifer Crispin© 2004,
Jennifer Crisp in
http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue19/themedefine.htm )
The characters might bounce from man to man in search of the perfect relationship, or they might focus more on their friends and jobs. They are generally looking for a perfect something, whether it’s a perfect man, a perfect figure, a perfect job, or a perfect pair of shoes.
2. Sex and the City
a. Novel
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (Grand Central Publishing, 1997)
Have there ever been four more memorable female friends? Sometimes people forget that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte started as characters in a book. The novel sex and the city picture the brand minded glamour and also sexual relationship. It tells about the Bachelor and Spinsters and their life style.
b. Movie
Sex and the City took place in Manhattan in 2008. It is a spin off from the television show that ran for six seasons. At the very beginning of the movie, Carrie, the main character, starts out expressing that the only reason young women move to New York City is to shop for the labels and to fall in love. This foreshadows the entire film because it is about the designer clothing the characters wear and the different relationship problems each character has. After the series end, four years past, and the characters lives have all changed. Carrie Bradshaw, the main character, is dating her on and off again boyfriend Jonathan Big. They buy an apartment together and get engaged. The story consists of their up-and-down relationship. He gets cold feet the day of the wedding and her three best friends, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbes, and Samantha Jones, all go with her to Mexico, on the trip that was intended to be her and “Mr. Big’s” honeymoon. The rest of the movie shows how she deals with the pain of heartbreak and how her friends are there to help her
c. TV Series
The TV series differ from the movie and the novel. The novel gives imagination through the strong word. The movie is designed to be watch in the shorter time than the TV series. And TV series is picturing slower than the movie. The plot is designed to be enjoyed in different style. Sex and the City is an American cable television series. The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004, for a total of six seasons. ( www.answer.com )
B. DISCUSSION
Chick lit at actually derived from Chick American slang term for young woman and lit is short for literature. The phrase chick lit is analogous to the term chick flick. The definition of chick lit varies widely and tinged with shades of backlash. Carole Desanti, the United States editor for Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones Diary) and Melissa Banks (The girls’ Guide to Hunting and fishing) notes:
Initially women writers were trying to find a way to write about their lived experience that was vibrant and authentic and creative and artful. Now there is a range definitions for chick lit, but the one we seem to be settling in with is the one that trivialize and dismisses it (Danford, N. 2003, “is chick lit still chick?”, publisher weekly, vol.250, no.42. pp.5-20)
Ferris and Young state that to list potentially compelling themes in chick lit: identity, sexuality, friendship as family, and balancing work and relationship.
The term chick lit has versus namely lad lit or Dick lit means literature written by men, with the main character being male. It is classified under the chick lit because the tone is very similar to chick lit’s tone. The men in these books are often going through dating, work scenarios, love, family issues and more. Another term is "Mommy Lit" namely a spin off from Chick Lit the new genre of chick lit. As the name suggests, Mommy Lit focuses on women dealing with new motherhood. Chick Lit and Mommy Lit tend to be humorous and irreverent. They often focus on ordinary details of women’s lives in a way that other woman-focused genres might not. These are not yet official genres, but there are certain publishing houses that have imprints specifically for publishing Chick Lit and Mommy Lit.
The Kinds of Chick lit
There are two kinds of chick lit:
There's the straight-up kind, offered with no pretense or apology, identifiable by the high-heeled shoe, martini glass or gown on its cover, and then there's lit chick lit, which attempts to straddle the conventions of chick lit and the ambitions of literary fiction.
To put it another way, lit chick lit dresses the bones of chick lit in a less conventional dress than the polka-dotted gown pictured on the cover of Katie Crouch's first novel, "Girls in Trucks."
The Formula of Chick lit
Is there a Chick Lit formula, or certain “must haves”?
I think some of the earlier books in the Chick Lit genre could have been called formulaic, but now the genre has evolved and broadened to encompass a wide range of complex issues. I think the problem with Chick Lit - if it has one - is that because all the books tend to be packaged and marketed in the same sort of way, it’s very hard to tell the quality of the contents from the covers. It all tends to look the same, but in the genre there is everything from young women struggling with career and boyfriend problems to more mature women coping with complex relationship and lifestyle issues. ‘Must haves’ for me include a strong, feisty heroine who solves her own problems while keeping a dozen balls in the air - normal, everyday stuff! It helps if there’s a drop-dead gorgeous hero somewhere in there too… : )
There's some variation in the chick lit world, of course, but the formula is as follows: Girl is guy-less; girl is miserable because she's guy-less; girl meets a seemingly unattainable guy (let's call him Prince Charming) whom the reader realizes is wonderful, but whom our heroine thinks is a prideful jerk; girl meets a second guy (let's call him Cad) whom she thinks is wonderful, but whom the reader realizes is a prideful jerk; girl gets romantically involved with Cad; Cad kicks girl to the curb; girl is rescued by Prince Charming. They live happily ever after.
Chick Lit Characters
Every stereotypical chick lit protagonist needs a supportive best friend. After all, "female friendship" is supposed to one of the themes in chick lit-- and in good chick lit, the author introduces interesting female friends. However, in stereotypical chick lit, there's no need to create a BFF who's any different from anyone else's. To be truly stereotypical, the supportive best friend must do all of the following:
Love shoe shopping with the protagonist.
Love eating ice cream with the protagonist. (Cosmos are optional.)
Console the protagonist about breakups.
Console the protagonist about her overbearing mother
Offer the protagonist wise advice about dating, including the fact that she really ought to be dating that nice guy in the office she keeps ignoring
The Overbearing Mother
The Guy She Ought to Fall in Love With
Why Sex and the city regarded as chick lit?
Chick Lit is huge right now — one of the fastest -growing genres in publishing today. Why are women crying out for these stories now, more than ever before? What are some of the current market trends?
Actually, Chick Lit is melding back into women’s fiction right now. Women are the largest portion of readers in the market, and they’re constant consumers. Right now, women are looking for more serious subjects, veering away from the traditional Chick Lit motifs like Sex In The City
How popular is sex and the city
Sex and the city is the third top ten chick lit in Penny Zang
Apr 19, 2008
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
(Grand Central Publishing, 1997)
Have there ever been four more memorable female friends? Sometimes people forget that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte started as characters in a book. You can thank Bushnell for all the future books about shopaholics with witty friends who also live in the city.
ISBN-13: 978-0446673549
(Http: \chik lit\Top Ten Chick Lit Novels A Beginner’s Guide to the Sub-genre of Women’s Fiction and Romance.mht)
Sex and the City is a collection of essays by Candace Bushnell based on her and her friends' lifestyles.[citation needed] It was first published in 1997, and re-published in 2001, 2006, and in 2008 as 10th anniversary movie tie-in edition.
( www. Wikipedia.org )
Sex and the city sold out
SUNDAY 9:00 a.m. (Pacific): Warner Bros. has told me this morning that Sex and the City scored an estimated $17.7 million on Saturday, and they are calling for $55.7 million for opening weekend
Kristin Davis' 'Sex and the City' Date Sold for 52,100 U.S. Dollar
March 26, 2008 03:47:38 GMT
A date with Kristin Davis to the "Sex and the City" movie premiere in New York City in May 2008 has been sold for a staggering $US52,100.
Sex and the City: The Movie was released nationwide May 30, 2008 and, as of December 24, 2008, has made $413,129,126 worldwide.
The Sex and the City: The Movie DVD was released on September 23, 2008.
(www.answer.com)
Box office performance
The film has experienced commercial success. Opening in 3,285 theaters, the film made $26.93 million in the US and Canada on its first day. The three-day opening weekend total was $57,038,404, aggregating $17,363 per theater. The film recorded the biggest opening ever for an R-rated comedy and for a romantic comedy,[19] and also for a film starring a woman.[20] As of October, 2008, the film has grossed $152,619,616 at the US and Canadian box office, and $256,274,667 in other markets, bringing the worldwide total gross revenue to $408,921,925. (www.answer.com)
The List of sex and the city episodes
Main article: List of Sex and the City episodes
Season Ep # First Airdate Last Airdate
Season 1
12 June 6, 1998 August 23, 1998
Season 2
18 June 6, 1999 October 3, 1999
Season 3
18 June 4, 2000 October 15, 2000
Season 4
18 June 3, 2001 February 10, 2002
Season 5
8 July 21, 2002 September 8, 2002
Season 6
20 June 22, 2003 February 22, 2004
What makes sex and the city interesting?
There are some comment from the readers about sex and the city. These comment show that sex and the city is popular chick lit.
" Fascinating... hilarious... Welcome to the cruel planet that is Manhattan. " — Los Angeles Times
" Sly... Sharp... Sex and the City succeeds. " — People
A woman has many things to worry about, being too successful, too beautiful, too smart, too rich, too accomplished...some guys may find the stupid, 20th C girls charming, but in the book, we can find four smart, beautiful, interesting, successful and confident women showing their life to us--a life about men, sex, and the city. --- lolita260 from Canton,China
“It has the ring of truth….. Sump up the fascinate Manhattan mind-set with considerable fair” – Jonathan Yardley, Washington post book world
“ A breath of fresh air… a forceful display of the merits of the journalistic approach to sexual relations … a realism that rivals Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities” __ Wall street Journal
“ Fun Bushnell is a skilled eaves dropper and a bright stylist revealing to us the soft underbelly of high society” ___ Newsday
“ Fascinating and hunting… an oddly touching collection.”___ Kirkus
Addictive….. a collection of witty, socially relevant vignetess” __ Elle
“ irrestible, hilarious, and horrific, stylishly written.”__ Bret Easton Ellis
“ Hilarious…. Entertaining…. Bushnell is a deft writer, possessing a sly sense of humor and sharp insight into human behavior” ____ People
C. CONCLUSION
Sex and the city is one of the popular chick lit. It sold out not only in America but also in Indonesia as well.
Its popularity makes the producer made into movie and also TV series as well.
In short chick lit can be a starting point for discussion of why women’s writing matters, the evolution of women writing, and the importance of women perspective in fiction.
THE FORMULA OF CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY
THE MYTHOLOGY OF CRIME AND ITS FORMULAIC EMBODIMENT
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries crime was still primarily a religious and moral matter. An offense against the law was or God and given harsh and terrible punishment. Crime represented the considerable sympathy and complex attention to motive and social context. During the nineteenth century moral feeling about crime might be called an aesthetic approach to subject.
Two Major formulaic pattern in the literature of crime of 1920s and 1930s – gangster tragedy and had boiled detective tale-embodied significant shifts in both archetype and cultural mythology. These new formulas made protagonist out of lower-class figures characterized by crudeness, aggressive violence, and alienation from the respectable morality of society.
THE FORMULA OF CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY
The first archetypal form of detective story is pure mystery. Since world war II other formulas that include some element of mystery archetype, but are also stories of adventure or melodrama- the hard boiled detective story, the spy story, the police procedural tale, the gangster saga, and the Enforces caper- have become increasingly popular.
Pattern of The formula
The formula of classical detective story can be described as conventional way of defining and developing particular kinds of situations, actions, characters and relation between them, and type of setting.
Detective story writers largely based their work on Poe’s inventions.
1. Situation. The classical detective story begins with an unsolved crime and move towards the elucidation of its mystery. Two major type of crime on which much of detective literature bases itself: Murder, frequently with sexual or grotesque over tones and Crime associated with political intrigue.
2. Pattern of action. The detective story formula centers upon the detective’s investigation and solution of the crime. Exemplify six main phases of this pattern (a) introduction of the detective; (b) crime and clues; (c) investigation; (d) announcement and the solution; (e) explanation of the solution; (g) denouement.
3. Characters and relationship. The classical detective story required four main roles: (a) the victim; (b) the criminal; (c) the detective; (d) those threatened by the crime but incapable of solving it.
4. Setting. In devising the setting Poe set the pattern for the classical detective story take place in isolated settings clearly marked off from the rest of the world. The combination of the isolated place and the bustling world outside is repeated in classical detective story. The setting performs many functions: it furnishes a limited and controlled backdrop against which the clues and suspects so central to the story can be silhouetted. It also fosters that special kind of suspends. It symbolic representation relation between surface rationality and hidden depth of guilt.
Cultural background of the formula
Haycraft’s theory as detective story as an affirmation of democratic ideal of legal process does offer a relation to a specific historical period. The mythology crime that is embodied is general characteristic is the transformation of crime into a game or puzzle, the aestheticizing of crime. The special emphasizes in the classical detective formula on domestic crimes as opposed to political or social crimes.
THE ART OF THE CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY
Christy and Sayers exemplify two possibilities for art within the formula of the classical detective story: (1) combines a pure ingenuity of ratiocination and mystification with other narrative interests completely subordinated to their rule in structure. (2) Uses classical formula pattern to body forth a variety of other narrative interest, in this case a vision of justice and society embedded in an allegory of the mystery of divine providence.
The golden age of detection is the past. The most important influence of the classical detective story since World War II has been on the new “post modern novel”
THE HARD BOILED DETECTIVE STORY
One of the most important aspects of hard –boiled formula is the special role of the modern city as background. The pattern formula: solution to the detective quest for the discovery and accomplishment of justice, and intimidation and temptation hero passing across a series of potential suspects. It set out to investigate crime but he must go the solution to personal choice or action. Usually the end of the story is a confrontation between detective and criminal.
References;
Cawelti: Adventure, Mystery, and romance: Formula stories as art and popular culture
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries crime was still primarily a religious and moral matter. An offense against the law was or God and given harsh and terrible punishment. Crime represented the considerable sympathy and complex attention to motive and social context. During the nineteenth century moral feeling about crime might be called an aesthetic approach to subject.
Two Major formulaic pattern in the literature of crime of 1920s and 1930s – gangster tragedy and had boiled detective tale-embodied significant shifts in both archetype and cultural mythology. These new formulas made protagonist out of lower-class figures characterized by crudeness, aggressive violence, and alienation from the respectable morality of society.
THE FORMULA OF CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY
The first archetypal form of detective story is pure mystery. Since world war II other formulas that include some element of mystery archetype, but are also stories of adventure or melodrama- the hard boiled detective story, the spy story, the police procedural tale, the gangster saga, and the Enforces caper- have become increasingly popular.
Pattern of The formula
The formula of classical detective story can be described as conventional way of defining and developing particular kinds of situations, actions, characters and relation between them, and type of setting.
Detective story writers largely based their work on Poe’s inventions.
1. Situation. The classical detective story begins with an unsolved crime and move towards the elucidation of its mystery. Two major type of crime on which much of detective literature bases itself: Murder, frequently with sexual or grotesque over tones and Crime associated with political intrigue.
2. Pattern of action. The detective story formula centers upon the detective’s investigation and solution of the crime. Exemplify six main phases of this pattern (a) introduction of the detective; (b) crime and clues; (c) investigation; (d) announcement and the solution; (e) explanation of the solution; (g) denouement.
3. Characters and relationship. The classical detective story required four main roles: (a) the victim; (b) the criminal; (c) the detective; (d) those threatened by the crime but incapable of solving it.
4. Setting. In devising the setting Poe set the pattern for the classical detective story take place in isolated settings clearly marked off from the rest of the world. The combination of the isolated place and the bustling world outside is repeated in classical detective story. The setting performs many functions: it furnishes a limited and controlled backdrop against which the clues and suspects so central to the story can be silhouetted. It also fosters that special kind of suspends. It symbolic representation relation between surface rationality and hidden depth of guilt.
Cultural background of the formula
Haycraft’s theory as detective story as an affirmation of democratic ideal of legal process does offer a relation to a specific historical period. The mythology crime that is embodied is general characteristic is the transformation of crime into a game or puzzle, the aestheticizing of crime. The special emphasizes in the classical detective formula on domestic crimes as opposed to political or social crimes.
THE ART OF THE CLASSICAL DETECTIVE STORY
Christy and Sayers exemplify two possibilities for art within the formula of the classical detective story: (1) combines a pure ingenuity of ratiocination and mystification with other narrative interests completely subordinated to their rule in structure. (2) Uses classical formula pattern to body forth a variety of other narrative interest, in this case a vision of justice and society embedded in an allegory of the mystery of divine providence.
The golden age of detection is the past. The most important influence of the classical detective story since World War II has been on the new “post modern novel”
THE HARD BOILED DETECTIVE STORY
One of the most important aspects of hard –boiled formula is the special role of the modern city as background. The pattern formula: solution to the detective quest for the discovery and accomplishment of justice, and intimidation and temptation hero passing across a series of potential suspects. It set out to investigate crime but he must go the solution to personal choice or action. Usually the end of the story is a confrontation between detective and criminal.
References;
Cawelti: Adventure, Mystery, and romance: Formula stories as art and popular culture
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