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Chekhov Gun
Chekhov's gun (or Chekhov's rifle; ) is a narrative principle emphasizing that every element in a story be necessary, while irrelevant elements should be removed. For example, if a gun features in a story, there must be a reason for it, such as being fired at some later point. The principle that all elements must eventually come into play over the course of the story is recorded, with some variation, in several letters by Anton Chekhov, as advice for young playwrights. In recent years, the term has also taken on the meaning of a plot element that is introduced early in a story, whose significance to the plot does not become clear until later. This plot twist meaning is separate from Chekhov's original intent of narrative conservation and necessity. Examples The principle is carried out in many of the ''James Bond'' films, in which the spy is presented with new gadgets at the beginning of a mission – such as a concealed, wrist-activated dart gun in '' Moonraker'' – and typicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagnères-de-Bigorre - Musée Arts Populaires 08
Bagnères-de-Bigorre (, literally ''Bagnères of Bigorre''; ) is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, Department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions of France, region of southwestern France. Name The town was known in classical antiquity, antiquity as (Latin for "watery vicus, neighborhood") and in the Middle Ages as ("Waters of the Comminges"). Its present name similarly means "Baths" () of Bigorre, the area of southwestern France once inhabited by the ' and now forming most of the French department, department of Hautes-Pyrénées. Either Bagnères-de-Bigorre or nearby Cieutat was apparently the "Begorra" attested in AD 400, which also derived from the ancient tribe. Heraldry Geography Location Bagnères-de-Bigorre is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees partly in the valley of the Adour some southeast of Tarbes and east of Lourdes. Hydrography The Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Rayfield
Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Joseph Stalin and his secret police. He is also a series editor for books about Russian writers and ''intelligentsia''. He has translated Georgian, Russian and Uzbek poets and prose writers. In March 2025, Donald Rayfield declined an award from the Writers' House of Georgia. Speaking at an event in London, he stated that he could not accept any gift associated with the Georgian Dream party. Bibliography *''Dream of Lhasa: The Life of Nikolay Przhevalsky'' (1976) *''The Cherry Orchard: Catastrophe and Comedy'' (1994) *''Anton Chekhov: A Life'' (1997) (and several other reprints) *''Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama'' (1999) *''The Garnett Book of Russian Verse'' (2000) *'' The Literature of Georgia: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaphors Referring To War And Violence
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to create a likeness or an analogy. Analysts group metaphors with other types of figurative language, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, and simile. According to Grammarly, "Figurative language examples include similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, allusions, and idioms." One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature comes from the "All the world's a stage" monologue from ''As You Like It'': All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant... :—William Shakespeare, ''As You Like It'', 2/7 This quotation expresses a metaphor because the world is n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrative Techniques
A narrative technique (also, in fiction, a fictional device) is any of several storytelling methods the creator of a story uses, thus effectively relaying information to the audience or making the story more complete, complex, or engaging. Some scholars also call such a technique a narrative mode, though this term can also more narrowly refer to the particular technique of using a commentary to deliver a story. Other possible synonyms within written narratives are literary technique or literary device, though these can also broadly refer to non-narrative writing strategies, as might be used in academic or essay writing, as well as poetic devices such as assonance, metre, or rhyme scheme. Furthermore, narrative techniques are distinguished from narrative elements, which exist inherently in all works of narrative, rather than being merely optional strategies. Setting Plots Perspective Style Theme Character See also * Plot device * Rhetorical device ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deus Ex Machina
''Deus ex machina'' ( ; ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; 'God from the machine') is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function is generally to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or act as a comedic device. Origin of the expression ''Deus ex machina'' is a Latin calque . The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought on stage using a machine. The machine could be either a crane ('' mechane'') used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought them up through a trapdoor. Aeschylus introduced the idea and it was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. The device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, although it also appeared in comedies. Ancient examples Aeschylus used the device in his '' Eumenides'' but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anticlimactic
The climax () or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element. Anticlimax An anticlimax is a disappointing event after events that were full of excitement. See also * Dramatic structure * Literary element A narrative technique (also, in fiction, a fictional device) is any of several storytelling methods the creator of a story uses, thus effectively relaying information to the audience or making the story more complete, complex, or engaging. Some ... * Climax as a rhetorical device References Plot (narrative) {{Lit-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anecdote
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real or fictional; the anecdotal digression is a common feature of literary works and even oral anecdotes typically involve subtle exaggeration and dramatic shape designed to entertain the listener. An anecdote is always presented as the recounting of a real incident involving actual people and usually in an identifiable place. In the words of Jürgen Hein, they exhibit "a special realism" and "a claimed historical dimension". Etymology and usage The word ''anecdote'' (in Greek: ἀνέκδοτον "unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Emperor Justinian I (). Procopius produced a work entitled (''Anekdota'', variously translated as ''Unpublished Memoirs'' or as ''Secret History'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaggy Dog Story
In its original sense, a shaggy-dog story or yarn is an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. In other words, it is a long story that is intended to be amusing and that has an intentionally silly or meaningless ending. Shaggy-dog stories play upon the audience's preconceptions of joke-telling. The audience listens to the story with certain expectations, which are either simply not met or met in some entirely unexpected manner. A lengthy shaggy-dog story derives its humour from the fact that the joke-teller held the attention of the listeners for a long time (such jokes can take five minutes or more to tell) for no reason at all, as the long-awaited resolution is essentially meaningless, with the joke as a whole playing upon people's search for meaning. The nature of their delivery is reflected in the English idiom '' spin a yarn'', by way of analogy with the production of yarn. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Herring
A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentionally, as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g., in politics), or may be used in argumentation inadvertently. The term was popularized in 1807 by English polemicist William Cobbett, who told a story of having used a strong-smelling smoked fish to divert and distract hounds from chasing a rabbit. Logical fallacy As an informal fallacy, the red herring falls into a broad class of relevance fallacies. Unlike the straw man, which involves a distortion of the other party's position, the red herring is a seemingly plausible, though ultimately irrelevant, diversionary tactic. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', a red herring may be intentional or unintentional; it is not necessarily a conscious intent to mis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occam's Razor
In philosophy, Occam's razor (also spelled Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor; ) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony (). Attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian, it is frequently cited as , which translates as "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity", although Occam never used these exact words. Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as "of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred." This philosophical razor advocates that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction and both hypotheses have equal explanatory power, one should prefer the hypothesis that requires the fewest assumptions, and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions. Similarl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MacGuffin
In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction. The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Usually, the MacGuffin is revealed in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It can reappear at the climax of the story but may actually be forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes derisively identified as plot coupons—the characters "collect" the coupons to trade in for an ending. History and use The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name MacGuffin. The Holy Grail of Arthurian legend has been cited as an early example of a MacGuffin. The Holy Grail is the desired object that is essential to initiate and advance t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plot Device
A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief. However, a well-crafted plot device, or one that emerges naturally from the setting or characters of the story, may be entirely accepted, or may even be unnoticed by the audience. Stories using plot devices Many stories, especially in the fantasy genre, feature an object or objects with some great magical power, such as a crown, sword, or jewel. Often what drives the plot is the hero's need to find the object and use it for good, before the villain can use it for evil, or if the object has been broken by the villains, to retrieve each piece that must be gathered from each antagonist to restore it, or, if the object itself is evil, to destroy it. In some cases destroying the object will lead to the destruction of the villain. In the In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
