PART 1

教师导入该部分话题：

Like any other works of art, a novel is an organic whole. Its various elements are created simultaneously by the novelist and cannot be separated without losing their perspectives. However, for the sake of focused analysis we can provisionally isolate some of its elements and give them due consideration. The following discussion is on the major elements of the novel and is by no means complete or absolute. The truism that the whole is larger than all its parts put together is always valid in literature.

● What is story?

People reading novels for stories usually ask questions like "What happened next? and “What would he do next?” These questions attest to the two basic elements of a story. The one is the event and the other the time. A story is a series of happenings arranged in the natural temporal order as they occur. Story is the basis of the novel, and indeed the basis of narrative works of all kinds.