85 pages • 2 hours read
Daniel WallaceBig Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
Big Fish
- Genre: Fiction; magical realism, humor
- Originally Published: 1998
- Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
- Structure/Length: 3 parts; approx. 196 pages; approx. 5 hours, 23 minutes on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: As Edward Bloom lies dying, his son William reviews the fantastic, larger-than-life tales Edward has always told and tries to determine the truth about his father’s life.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Profanity; smoking and drinking; nudity
Daniel Wallace, Author
- Bio: Born 1959 in Birmingham, Alabama; left college to work in Japan for his father’s company, then decided to study writing; was influenced by Kurt Vonnegut, among others; wrote five unpublished novels before selling Big Fish to a publisher; sets his books in Alabama and the South; published a children’s book he wrote and illustrated, The Cat’s Pajamas, in 2014; Big Fish was adapted into a motion picture directed by Tim Burton; winner of Harper Lee Award for lifetime achievement in 2019; lives with his wife in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he teaches creative writing at UNC
- Other Works: Ray in Reverse (2000); The Watermelon King (2003); The Kings and Queens of Roam (2013); Extraordinary Adventures (2017)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- The Role of Storytelling
- Immortality
- Classical and Personal Mythology
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
