A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ...

Distingushing literary technique from literary genre

Literary technique is distinguished from literary genre. For example, although David Copperfield employs satire at certain moments, it belongs to the genre of comic novel, not that of satire. By contrast, Bleak House employs satire so consistently as to belong to the genre of satirical novel. In this way, use of a technique can lead to the development of a new genre, as was the case with one of the first modern novels, Pamela by Samuel Richardson, which by using the epistolary technique gave birth to the epistolary novel. Many of the techniques listed below can also be used in other forms of fiction, for example film. A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... David Copperfield or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to be published on any account)[1] is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1850. ... Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly parts between March 1852 and September 1853. ... Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is a novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. ... Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 – July 4, 1761) was a major 18th century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... // Fiction (from the Latin fingere, to form, create) is the genre of imaginative prose literature, including novels and short stories. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ...

Annotated list of literary techniques

• Author surrogate, a character who acts as the author's spokesman. Sometimes the character may intentionally or unintentionally be an idealized version of the author. A well known variation is the Mary Sue or Gary Stu (self-insertion).
• Back-story, the story "behind" or "before" the events being portrayed in the story being told; past events or background for a character that can serve to color or add additional meaning to current circumstances. Provides extra depth to the story by anchoring it to external events, real or imagined.
• Breaking the fourth wall, the author or a character addressing the audience directly (also known as direct address). May acknowledge to the reader or audience that what is being presented is fiction, or may seek to extend the world of the story to provide the illusion that they are included in it.(Malcolm in the Middle)
• Conceit is an extended metaphor, associated with metaphysical poetry, designed to push the limits of the imagination in order to portray something indescribable.
• Chekhov's gun, the insertion of an object of apparent irrelevance early on an a narrative, the purpose of which is only revealed later on in the story.
• Defamiliarization, technique of forcing the reader to recognize common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar.
• Deleted affair, telling of a romantic relationship, but not referred to in current story.
• Deus ex machina (God from the Machine), a plot device dating back to ancient Greek theater, where the primary conflict is resolved through a means that seems unrelated to the story (i.e. a God comes down out of nowhere and solves everything, saving the character from peril). In modern times, the Deus ex machina is often considered a clumsy method, to be avoided in order not to frustrate readers or viewers.
• Epic Theater, a technique popularized by 20th century playwright Bertolt Brecht, in which the audience is "alienated" or "distanced" from the emotion of the play.
• Epiphany, is a literary work or section of a literary work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.
• Epistolary novel, novel in the form of letters exchanged between the characters. Classic examples include Pamela by Samuel Richardson (1740), Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett (1771), Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1782) and Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897).
• False documents, fiction written in the form of, or about, apparently real, but actually fake documents. Examples include Robert Graves' I, Claudius, a fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor. The short stories of Jorge Luis Borges are often written as summaries or criticisms of books that in actuality do not exist.
• Fictional fictional character, a character whose fictional existence is introduced within a larger work of fiction, or a character in a story within a story. Early examples include Panchatantra and Arabian Nights.
• Flashback, general term for altering time sequences, taking characters back to the beginning of the tale, for instance.
• Framing device, the usage of a single action, scene, event, setting, or any element of significance at the beginning and end of a work.
• Foreshadowing, hinting at events to occur later.
• Frame story, or a story within a story, where a main story is used to organize a series of shorter stories. Early examples include Panchatantra and Arabian Nights.
• Incluing, describing a different world, such as Brave New World.
• In medias res, when the story begins in the middle of an intense action sequence.
• Irony is a form of stating one thing and meaning another.
• Juxtaposition, when the author places two themes, characters, phrases, words, or situations together for the purpose of comparison, contrast, or rhetoric.
• Magic realism, a form particularly popular in Latin America but not limited to that region, in which events are described realistically, but in a magical haze of strange local customs and beliefs. Gabriel García Márquez is a notable author in the style.
• Narrative hook
• Overstatement, exaggeration of something, often for the purpose of emphasis (also known as a hyperbole).
• Parody, ridicule by imitation, usually humorous, such as MAD Magazine.
• Pastiche, using forms and styles of another author, generally as an affectionate tribute, such as the many stories featuring Sherlock Holmes not written by Arthur Conan Doyle, or much of the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Pathetic fallacy is the reflection of the mood of a character (usually the protagonist) in the inate objects. A good example is the storm in William Shakespeare's King Lear, which mirrors Lear's mental deterioration.
• Personification, the use of comparative metaphors and similes to give human-like characteristics to non-human objects.
• Plot twist is a change ("twist") in the direction or expected outcome of the plot of a film or novel.
• Poetic justice is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct.
• Predestination paradox, a paradox of time travel when a time traveler is caught in a loop of events that "predestines" him or her to travel back in time.
• Quibble, a common plot device, used to fulfil the exact verbal conditions of an agreement in order to avoid the intended meaning. Used commonly in legal bargains.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy, a prediction that, in being made, actually causes itself to become true. Early examples include the legend of Oedipus, and the story of Krishna in the Mahabharata.
• Sensory detail or Imagery, sight, sound, taste, touch, smell.
• Side story, a form of narrative that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. Examples include Mahabharata, Ramayana, Gundam, Doctor Who and The Matrix.
• Stream of consciousness, an attempt to portray all the thoughts and feelings of a character, as in parts of James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Virginia Woolf.
• Symbolism, the applied use of symbols: iconic representations that carry particular conventional meanings.
• Tone, or the overall attitude that an author appears to hold toward the work—a novel such as Candide makes fun of the sufferings of its characters, while The Sorrows of Young Werther takes its protagonist's suffering very seriously.
• Unreliable narrator, a technique in which the narrator of the story is not sincere or introduces a bias in the way he tells it and possibly misleads the reader, hiding or minimizing some events, characters or motivations.
• Word play, in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the work.
• Writer's voice, a literary technique combining various structural aspects of an author's writing style.

Note: In the context of a play literary devices are referred to as Dramatic Devices. They are used to add interest and tension. As a literary technique, an author surrogate is a character who expresses the ideas, questions, personality and morality of the author. ... Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a pejorative expression for a fictional character who is an idealized stand-in for the author, or for a story with such a character. ... Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a usually derogatory expression for a fictional character who is an idealized stand-in for the author and/or reader, or for a story with such a character. ... In narratology, a back-story (also back story or backstory) is the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed, found in Latin among other languages. ... // Fiction (from the Latin fingere, to form, create) is the genre of imaginative prose literature, including novels and short stories. ... Look up conceit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Defamiliarization or ostranenie (остранение) is the artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar. ... A deleted affair, in literary terms, is a romantic relationship that is regarded to have occured at some point in the past of two characters, but is never referred to in the present story. ... // Deus ex machina describes an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (e. ... The Dionysos Theatre in Athens built into the Acropolis, ~3rd century BC. The Greek theatre (AE theater) or Greek drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece between c. ... Epic theater, also known as theater of alienation or theater of politics, is a theater movement arising in the early to mid-20th century, inextricably linked to the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. ... Bertolt Brecht Brecht redirects here. ... This article is about a feeling, for other meanings see epiphany (disambiguation). ... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. ... Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 – July 4, 1761) was a major 18th century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... The expedition of Humphry Clinker was the last of the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett, and is considered by many to be his best and funniest work. ... Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (March 19, 1721 - September 17, 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) is a famous French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782. ... Pierre Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos, a French official and army general, was born on October 18, 1741 in Amiens, France and died in Taranto, Italy on September 5, 1803. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A false document is a form of verisimilitude that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience, etc. ... I, Claudius is a novel by Robert Graves, (ISBN 067972477X) first published in 1934, dealing sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesars assassination in 44 BC to Caligulas assassination in 41 AD... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. ... A fictional fictional character is a kind of metafiction. ... A story within a story is a literary device or conceit in which one story is told during the action of another story. ... The Panchatantra [1][2][3] (also spelled Pañcatantra, Sanskrit पञ्चतन्त्र Five Chapters) or Kelileh va Dimneh or Anvar-i-Suhayli [4][5] or The Lights of Canopus (in Persian)[6] or Kalilag and Damnag (in Syriac)[7] or Kalila and Dimna (also Kalilah and Dimnah, Arabic كليلة و دمنة Kalila wa Dimna)[8... Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryar. ... In literature and film, a flashback (also called analepsis) takes the narrative back in time from the point the story has reached, to recount events that happened before and give the back-story. ... The term framing device refers to the usage of a single action, scene, event, setting, or any element of significance at the beginning and end of a work. ... Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author drops subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc. ... A story within a story is a literary device or conceit in which one story is told during the action of another story. ... The Panchatantra [1][2][3] (also spelled Pañcatantra, Sanskrit पञ्चतन्त्र Five Chapters) or Kelileh va Dimneh or Anvar-i-Suhayli [4][5] or The Lights of Canopus (in Persian)[6] or Kalilag and Damnag (in Syriac)[7] or Kalila and Dimna (also Kalilah and Dimnah, Arabic كليلة و دمنة Kalila wa Dimna)[8... Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryar. ... Incluing is a technique of world building, in which the reader is gradually exposed to background information about the world in which a story is set. ... Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932. ... In media(s) res (Latin for into the middle of things) is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo or ab initio). ... Irony, from the Greek εἴρων (eiron), is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ... Look up juxtaposition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Magic realism (or magical realism) is an artistic genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A narrative hook (or hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that hooks the readers attention so that he will read on. ... In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Harvey Kurtzmans cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. ... The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... Cthulhu and Rlyeh Cthulhu Mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. ... The pathetic fallacy or anthropomorphic fallacy is the description of inanimate natural objects in a manner that endows them with human feelings, thoughts and sensations. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is generally regarded as one of William Shakespeares greatest tragedies. ... Personification- A kind of metaphore in which a non-human thing is talked about as if it were human. ... A Plot twist is a change (twist) in the direction or expected outcome of the plot of a film or novel. ... Poetic Justice is a 1993 drama/romance film starring Tupac Shakur and Janet Jackson and directed by John Singleton. ... A predestination paradox, also called either a causal loop, or a causality loop and (less frequently) either a closed loop or closed time loop, is a paradox of time travel that is often used as a convention in science fiction. ... A quibble is a common plot device, used to fulfil the exact verbal conditions of an agreement in order to avoid the intended meaning. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Oedipus with the Sphinx, from an Attic red-figure cylix from the Vatican Museum, ca. ... This article is about the Hindu deity. ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... A side story in fiction is a form of narrative that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... For the television series by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). ... Gundam ) is one of the longest running series of anime featuring giant robots or mecha. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and a 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC. The programme shows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and... The Matrix is a science fiction/action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving. ... In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a literary technique which seeks to portray an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... For the American childrens writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941) was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Candide, ou lOptimisme, (Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a French language picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. ... The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werther, originally published as Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is an epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. ... Illustration by Gustave Doré for Baron Münchhausen: tall tales, such as those of the Baron, often feature unreliable narrators. ... Word play is a literary technique in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the subject of the work. ... Writers Voice is the voice any reader can hear in his mind when reading e. ...

See also

• Rhetoric
• Rhetorical devices
• Plot device
• Category:Poetic form

See also figure of speech (such as alliteration, simile, metaphor, metonymy), that is a use of words or phrases that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use. Many poems, short stories, and novels use figures of speech. Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of spoken and written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ... A rhetorical device is a technique, sometimes called a resource of language, used by an author or speaker to induce an emotional response. ... A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. ... A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or elocution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. ... Alliteration is a structuring device characterized by the reiteration of a letter at the beginning of two consecutive or slightly separated words. ... A simile is a comparison of two unlike things, typically marked by use of like, as or than. Examples may include the snow was as thick as a blanket, or she was as smart as a crow. // Similes are widely used in literature, both modern and ancient. ... Look up metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In rhetoric, metonymy is the substitution of one word for another word with which it is associated. ...

External links

• Literary Techniques Series - A Full explanation of literary techniques from the students perspective