Verisimilitude: Difference between revisions
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This literary term refers to characters or events in a story that appears to be life like and believable. | This literary term refers to characters or events in a story that appears to be life like and believable. It is achieved by a writer or storyteller when he presents striking details which lend an air of authenticity to a tale (Beckson). Let's say an author writes about a man who falls off a cliff and he dies. It is believable that, if a man falls off a cliff he will die. It is possible that a person can believe an event or character in a fiction story is real so, a story can have a degree of verisimilitude in fiction stories as well as non-fiction stories, as long as the reader feels that it is real (Wheeler). Note that even fantasy novels and science fiction stories that discuss impossible events can have verisimilitude if the reader is able to read them with suspended disbelief (Eagleton). To say that a work has a high degree of verisimilitude means that the work is very realistic and believable--it is "true to life" (Harris). | ||
==Works Cited== | ==Works Cited== | ||
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*Mifflin, Houghton. “Verisimilitude.” ''Webster’s II New College Dictionary.'' 2001,1999,1995 | *Mifflin, Houghton. “Verisimilitude.” ''Webster’s II New College Dictionary.'' 2001,1999,1995 | ||
*Eagleton, Terry. "Verisimiltude." ''Literary Theory: An Introduction.'' 1983 | |||
*Beckson, Karl and Arthur Ganz. "Verisimiltude." ''Literary Terms: A Dictionary''. 1975 | |||
Revision as of 21:20, 15 February 2006
This literary term refers to characters or events in a story that appears to be life like and believable. It is achieved by a writer or storyteller when he presents striking details which lend an air of authenticity to a tale (Beckson). Let's say an author writes about a man who falls off a cliff and he dies. It is believable that, if a man falls off a cliff he will die. It is possible that a person can believe an event or character in a fiction story is real so, a story can have a degree of verisimilitude in fiction stories as well as non-fiction stories, as long as the reader feels that it is real (Wheeler). Note that even fantasy novels and science fiction stories that discuss impossible events can have verisimilitude if the reader is able to read them with suspended disbelief (Eagleton). To say that a work has a high degree of verisimilitude means that the work is very realistic and believable--it is "true to life" (Harris).
Works Cited
- Dr. L. Wheeler, Kip. “Verisimilitude.” Literary Terms and Definitions:V. 1998-2003. [1]
- Harris, Robert. “Verisimilitude.” A Glossary of Literary Terms. 22May1997.[2]
- J.A. Cuddon, Penguin Books, London. “Verisimilitude.” Bibliography: A Dictionary of Literary Terms, 1977 [3]
- Mifflin, Houghton. “Verisimilitude.” Webster’s II New College Dictionary. 2001,1999,1995
- Eagleton, Terry. "Verisimiltude." Literary Theory: An Introduction. 1983
- Beckson, Karl and Arthur Ganz. "Verisimiltude." Literary Terms: A Dictionary. 1975