|
Purple Patch
In literary criticism, purple prose is overly ornate prose text that may disrupt a narrative flow by drawing undesirable attention to its own extravagant style of writing, thereby diminishing the appreciation of the prose overall. Purple prose is characterized by the excessive use of adjectives, adverbs, and metaphors. When it is limited to certain passages, they may be termed purple patches or purple passages, standing out from the rest of the work. Purple prose is criticized for desaturating the meaning in an author's text by overusing melodramatic and fanciful descriptions. As there is no precise rule or absolute definition of what constitutes purple prose, deciding if a text, passage, or complete work has fallen victim is subjective. According to Paul West, "It takes a certain amount of sass to speak up for prose that's rich, succulent and full of novelty. Purple is immoral, undemocratic and insincere; at best artsy, at worst the exterminating angel of depravity." Origins T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literary Criticism
A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's goals and methods. Although the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists. Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry from literary theory is a matter of some controversy. For example, ''The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism'' draws no distinction between literary theory and literary criticism, and almost always uses the terms together to describe the same concept. Some critics consider literary criticism a practical application of literary theory, because criticism always deals directly with particular literary works, while theory may be more general or abstract. Literary criticism is often published in essay or book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concision
In common usage and linguistics, concision (also called conciseness, succinctness, terseness, brevity, or laconicism) is a communication principle of eliminating redundancy (linguistics), redundancy,UNT Writing Lab. "Concision, Clarity, and Cohesion." Accessed June 19, 2012Link./ref> generally achieved by using as few words as possible in a Sentence (linguistics), sentence while preserving its semantics, meaning. More generally, it is achieved through the omission of parts that impart information that was already given, that is obvious or that is irrelevant. Outside of linguistics, a message may be similarly "dense" in other forms of communication. For example, a sentence of "It is a fact that most arguments must try to convince readers, that is the audience, that the arguments are true." may be expressed more concisely as "Most arguments must demonstrate their truth to readers." the observations that the statement is a fact and that readers are its audience are redundant, and it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiction-writing Mode
A fiction-writing mode is a manner of writing imaginary stories with its own set of conventions regarding how, when, and where it should be used. Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse. Fiction-writing also has distinct forms of expression, or modes, each with its own purposes and conventions. Currently, there is no consensus within the writing community regarding the number and composition of fiction-writing modes and their uses. Some writing modes suggested include action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scene, description, background, exposition and transition. Overview The concept goes back at least as far as Aristotle who, in ''Poetics'', referred to narration and action as different modes or manner of representing something. For many years, fiction writing was described as having two types: narration and dialogue. Evan Marshall, in ''The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing'' (1998) noted that writers should know what they are doing at all ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Style (fiction)
In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. Thus, style is a term that may refer, at one and the same time, to singular aspects of an individual's writing habits or a particular document and to aspects that go well-beyond the individual writer. Beyond the essential elements of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, writing style is the choice of words, Sentence (linguistics), sentence structure, and paragraph structure, used to convey the meaning effectively. The former are referred to as ''rules'', ''elements'', ''essentials'', ''mechanics'', or ''handbook''; the latter are referred to as ''style'', or ''rhetoric''. The rules are about ''what'' a writer does; style is about ''how'' the writer does it. While following the rules drawn from established English usage, a writer has great flexibility in how to express a concept. Some have suggested that the point of writing style is to: * express t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verbosity
Verbosity, or verboseness, is speech or writing that uses more words than necessary. The opposite of verbosity is succinctness. Some teachers, including the author of ''The Elements of Style'', warn against verbosity. Similarly Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, among others, famously avoided it. Synonyms of "verbosity" include wordiness, verbiage, loquacity, garrulousness, logorrhea, prolixity, grandiloquence, expatiation, sesquipedalianism, and overwriting. Etymology and synonyms The word ''verbosity'' comes from Latin ''verbosus'', "wordy". There are many other English words that also refer to the use of excessive words. ''Prolixity'' comes from Latin ''prolixus'', "extended". ''Prolixity'' can also be used to refer to the length of a monologue or speech, especially a formal address such as a lawyer's oral argument. ''Grandiloquence'' is complex speech or writing judged to be pompous or bombastic diction. It is a combination of the Latin words ''grandis'' ("great") and ''l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The Occult Hand
The Order of the Occult Hand is a secret society of American journalists who slip the meaningless and telltale phrase "It was as if some occult hand had…" in print as an inside joke. History The phrase was introduced by Joseph Flanders, then a police reporter of '' The Charlotte News'', in the summer of 1965, when he reported on a millworker named Freddie Lee Harr, who was shot by his uncle when he unexpectedly returned home in the middle of the night after a bomb-threat interrupted his night-shift work. He wrote: Amused by this purple passage, in a local bar, his colleagues decided to commemorate Flanders's achievement by forming the Order of the Occult Hand. They even showed Flanders a banner made of a bed sheet depicting a bloody hand reaching out of a purple cloud. Among the original members were: R. C. Smith, an associate editor; Stewart Spencer, then an editorial writer; John Gin, the city editor; and several others, who vowed to get the words into print as soon as pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphuism
Euphuism is an elegant literary style that was briefly in fashion during the Elizabethan era. The euphuism style employed the frequent use of alliteration, antithesis, balance, and simile, with references to nature and mythological tales. Euphuism was fashionable in the 1580s, especially in the Elizabethan court. Its origins can be traced back to Spanish writer Antonio de Guevara, whose ornate, manierist courtesan prose became very popular throughout Europe, and whose work ''The Clock of the Princes'', translated into English in 1557 by Thomas North, reached its peak in popularity during Elizabeth I's reign. ''Euphues'' (1580) "Euphues" (εὐφυής) is the Greek for "graceful, witty". John Lyly published the works '' Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit'' (1578) and ''Euphues and his England'' (1580). Both works illustrated the intellectual fashions and favourite themes of Renaissance society— in a highly artificial and mannered style. The plots are unimportant, existin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elegant Variation
Elegant variation is the use of synonyms to avoid repetition or add variety. The term was introduced in 1906 by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler in ''The King's English''. In their meaning of the term, they focus particularly on instances when the word being avoided is a noun or its pronoun. Pronouns are themselves variations intended to avoid awkward repetition, and variations are so often not necessary, that they should be used only when needed. The Fowlers recommend that "variations should take place only when there is some awkwardness, such as ambiguity or noticeable monotony, in the word avoided". History Henry Fowler's later '' Dictionary of Modern English Usage'', published in 1926, keeps the same definition, but more explicitly cautions against overuse of variations or synonyms by writers who are "intent on expressing themselves prettily", rather than "conveying their meaning clearly", adding that "there are few literary faults so prevalent." Fowler then quotes examples o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Description
Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narration. Fiction writing Fiction writing specifically has modes such as action, exposition, description, dialogue, summary, and transition. Author Peter Selgin refers to ''methods'', including action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scenes, and description. Description is the mode for transmitting a mental image of the particulars of a story. Together with dialogue, narration, exposition, and summarization, it is one of the most widely recognized of the fiction-writing modes. As stated in ''Writing from A to Z'', edited by Kirk Polking, it is more than the amassing of details; it is bringing something to life by carefully choosing and arranging words and phrases to produce the desired effect. Purple prose A purple patch is an over-written ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
__NOTOC__ The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) was a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of San José State University in San Jose, California until 2025. Entrants were invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, one which was deliberately bad. According to the official rules, the prize for winning the contest was "a pittance". The 2008 winner received $250, while the 2014 winners' page said the grand prize winner received "about $150". In 2023, the prize was "a cheap certificate and bragging rights". The contest was started in 1982 by Professor Scott E. Rice of the English Department at San Jose State University and was named for English novelist and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author of the much-quoted first line " It was a dark and stormy night". This opening, from the 1830 novel '' Paul Clifford'', reads in full: The first year of the competition attracted just three e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prose
Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most notably from poetry, which follows some type of intentional, contrived, artistic structure. Poetic structures vary dramatically by language; in English poetry, language is often organized by a rhythmic metre and a rhyme scheme. The ordinary language of a region or community and many other forms and styles of language fall under prose, a label that can describe both speech and writing. In writing, prose is visually formatted differently than poetry. Poetry is traditionally written in verse: a series of lines on a page, parallel to the way that a person would highlight the structure orally if saying the poem aloud; for example, poetry may end with a rhyme at the end of each line, making the entire work more melodious or memorable. Pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Switzerland border, Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Constance downstream, it forms part of the Germany-Switzerland border, Swiss-German border. After that the Rhine defines much of the Franco-German border. It then flows in a mostly northerly direction through the German Rhineland. Finally, the Rhine turns to flow predominantly west to enter the Netherlands, eventually emptying into the North Sea. It drains an area of 185,000 km2. Its name derives from the Gaulish language, Gaulish ''Rēnos''. There are two States of Germany, German states named after the river, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, in addition to several districts of Germany, districts (e.g. Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg). The departments of France, department ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
