{"id":1109,"date":"2016-08-26T14:28:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T20:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vsfp.byu.edu\/?page_id=1109"},"modified":"2017-01-24T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T17:50:11","slug":"drama-and-adventure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vsfp.byu.edu\/index.php\/drama-and-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama and Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ninteenth century authors often borrowed concepts from the stage when writing their short fiction. There was a natural alignment between the two genres, both in length and in focus on plot and character. An author might begin a piece of short fiction by laying a \u201cscene,\u201d essentially giving descriptions of stage setting and layout for a reader to imagine.\u00a0 One scene of a longer drama could be adapted as a short story.\u00a0 Even an entire stage play could be the length of a sizable piece of short fiction. Given the prominence of relatively brief theatricals during the period (melodrama, scenes performed as part of music hall entertainment, etc.), drama provided a logical set of practices for authors of short fiction to adapt.<\/p>\n

In addition, writers responded to an almost insatiable demand for plot-driven adventure stories. Particularly prominent in fiction written for boys, settings for these stories ranged the globe. During a time when the British empire was expanding to its greatest size, many of the narratives were set in far-flung colonies, on the seas, or in fictional lands set on the opposite side of the globe. Adventure stories often spanned the gap between fiction and non-fiction, at times embellishing the exploits of explorers, at times presenting fictional events as historical.<\/p>\n

Significant Terms<\/h2>\n