Transcriber's note.
A list of the changes made can be found at the end of the book.
TYPES OF PROSE NARRATIVES
TYPES OF PROSENARRATIVES
A TEXT-BOOK FOR THESTORY WRITER
BY
HARRIOTT ELY FANSLER
Assistant Professor of English in the University of the
Philippines. Formerly Instructor in English
in Western Reserve University
at Cleveland, Ohio
CHICAGO
ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY
Copyright, 1911,
Harriott Ely Fansler.
PREFACE
Inspiration for any craftsman lies in the history ofhis art and in a definite problem at hand. He feels histask dignified when he knows what has been done beforehim, and he has a starting point when he can enumeratethe essentials of what he wants to produce. He thengoes to his work with a zest that is in itself creative.There is a popular misconception, especially in theminds of young people and seemingly in the minds ofmany teachers and critics of literature, that geniuseshave sprung full-worded from the brain of Jove andhave worked without antecedents. There could not beto a writer a more cramping idea than that. It is theaim of the present volume to help dispel that illusion,and to set in a convenient form before students of narrativethe twofold inspiration mentioned—a feeling forthe past and a series of definite problems.
There has been no attempt at minuteness in tracingthe type developments; though there has been the constantideal of exactness and trustworthiness whereverdevelopments are suggested. In other words, this bookis not a scrutiny of origins, but a setting forth ofessentials in kinds of narratives already clearly established.The analysis that gives the essentials has, ofcourse, the personal element in it, as all such analysesmust have; but the work is the work of one mind and isat least consistent. Since I have not had the benefit ofother texts on the subject (for there are none that I[vi]know of) and since the inquiry into narrative typeswith composition in view is thus made, put together withillustrations, and published for the first time, it has beenmy especial aim to exclude everything dogmatic. Ascan readily be seen, the details have been worked out inthe actual classroom. The safe thing about the use ofsuch a text by other instructors is the fact that they andtheir pupils can test the truth of the generalizations byfirst-hand inquiry of their own.
The examples chosen from literature and here printedare specific as well as typical. They have been selectednot only to illustrate general principles, but for otherreasons as well—some for superior intrinsic worth; somefor historical position; all because of possible inspiration.But none have been selected as models.
The themes written by my present and former pupilsare added for the last reason—as sure reinforcement ofthe inspiration, as provokers to action. Often studentsfail to write because there is held up to them a model,something complicated and perfect in detail. They feeltheir apprenticeship keenly and hesitate to attempt al