: Re: What is the literary device/technique called where something familiar is presented so it seems foreign? The device or technique I'm looking for is used to describe something mundane or ordinary

It is called defamiliarization, or making the ordinary feel less familiar. Whether through amplification, switching register, or choosing different words, the familiar becomes less familiar.

Related concepts include ostranenie (Viktor Shklovsky, a Russian formalist, used this term when he claimed that defamiliarization is a central function of art) and Verfremdungseffekt (playwright Bertolt Brecht used the term to define the distance he wanted to create between audience and characters).

Wikipedia provides a fair overview of these concepts. Also, Kip Wheeler's online dictionary of literary terms doesn't look great, but he's also an expert, and the definitions are well-sourced from credible guides.

Load Full (0)

: Questions about pens, pencils, or other physical implements used for writing. Questions asking to identify a specific implement are on-topic only if an image of the implement is provided. Recommendation

@Cooney417

Load Full 0 Comments

: Proofreading a novel: is it okay to use a question mark with an exclamation mark - "?!" Is it ever acceptable to use an exclamation mark following a question mark? I am proofreading a novel

@Cooney417

Load Full 4 Comments

: Scriptwriting, screenplay writing, playwriting, blogging Does a script usually have to come out like a play? Or, there should be a difference?

@Cooney417

Load Full 2 Comments

: I keep rewriting the same section of my story. How do I move forward? I have a story I want to write and I have the scenes in my head. Because of this, I keep judging and rewriting the

: Re: What is the literary device/technique called where something familiar is presented so it seems foreign? The device or technique I'm looking for is used to describe something mundane or ordinary

More posts by @Cooney417

: Questions about pens, pencils, or other physical implements used for writing. Questions asking to identify a specific implement are on-topic only if an image of the implement is provided. Recommendation

: Proofreading a novel: is it okay to use a question mark with an exclamation mark - "?!" Is it ever acceptable to use an exclamation mark following a question mark? I am proofreading a novel

: Scriptwriting, screenplay writing, playwriting, blogging Does a script usually have to come out like a play? Or, there should be a difference?

: I keep rewriting the same section of my story. How do I move forward? I have a story I want to write and I have the scenes in my head. Because of this, I keep judging and rewriting the

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top