Language in Use 151
This unit looks at the way in which fiction helps to transmit cultural attitudes. It
examines the fictional handling of such topics as war, spying and romance, and
the notions about, and attitudes towards, them which we derive from novels.
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[1] The aim of this session is to get the class to look at the similarities and differences between popular notions about a topic and the way it is handled in fiction. Present the class with a list of types of fiction such as war, adventure, spy, detective, western, romance, and ask each member of the class to choose one type of which he has read some examples and one of which lie has read little or nothing Get him to list any features which he believes characterise the two types he has chosen. Circulate the lists, and in discussion consider what differences and similarities there are between the features chosen by those who read the fiction of a given type and those who do not.
[2] Working in small groups, the class should prepare presentations to illustrate the kind of social attitude represented in one of the types of fiction discussed in [1]. Such a presentation might consist of dramatised readings to illustrate attitudes shown in the novel towards such things as honesty, bravery, being a good loser, treatment of women and how one regards 'the other side'.
[3] After each group has made its presentation, the class-working in the same groups-should write a short story or short dramatic piece which deliberately sets out to present the opposite of the attitudes normally revealed by one of the categories. Examples could include the incompetent philanderer, spy or detective, the cowardly sheriff or outlaw, or the attitude towards war exemplified in Joseph Heller's Catch-22