Verisimilitude
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). For example, if 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. <http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/wheeler/lit_terms_V.html> [1]
- Cuddon, J.A. "Verisimilitude." The Penguin Dictionary Of Literary Terms and Literary Theory fourth edition. 1976,1977,1979,1991,1998.
- Cuddon, J.A. Penguin Books, London. "Verisimilitude." Bibliography: A Dictionary of Literary Terms, 1977 [2]
- Harris, Robert. "Verisimilitude." A Glossary of Literary Terms. 22May1997.[3]
- Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. "Verisimilitude." Merriam-Webster's Encylopedia of Literature 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