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SETTING

Fiction can be defined as character in action at a certain time and place. Now we turn our attention to setting, a term that, in its broadest sense, encompasses both the physical locale that frames the action and the time of day or year, the climatic conditions and the historical period during which the action takes place. At its most basic, setting helps the reader visualize the action of the work, and thus adds credibility and a n air of authenticity to the characters.

There are, however, many different kinds of setting in fiction and they function in a variety of ways. Some settings are relatively unimportant. They serve as little more than incidental and decorative backdrops. Some settings, on the other hand, are intimately and necessarily connected with the meaning and unity of the whole work. The most important fictional settings are those that are “dramatic”, those that are organic and essential parts of the work as a whole.

In order to understand the purpose and function of setting, the reader must pay particular attention to the descriptive passages in which the details of setting are introduced. Generally speaking, unless such passages are intended merely as local colour, the greater the attention given to them, the greater is their importance in the total work. In most short stories and in many novels setting is established at or near the beginning of the work as a means of orienting the reader and framing the action that is to follow.

The quality of the language by which the author projects the setting provides another clue as to his or her intention. When that intention is to invest the setting with a photographic vividness that appeals essentially to the reader’s eye, the details of the setting will be rendered through language the language that is concrete and denotative. The author will pile specific detail on top of specific detail in an attempt to provide the illusion of stable external reality. On the other hand, the author may want us to “feel” rather than simply “see” the setting, as is the case when setting is to be used as a means of creating atmosphere. In that case the appeal will be to the reader’s imagination and emotions through language that is connotative, emotionally heightened, and suggestive. The author will, that is, manipulate the poetic qualities of language to elicit from the reader the desired and appropriate response. Often the author will want the reader to both see and feel the setting and will use the resources of language to bring about both effects simultaneously.