Mimesis
The Greek word for imitation or representation. Aristole used the term to define the role of art as an "imitation of nature"(Auerbach,314). Northrup Frye used it more for works that imitate characters on a human level, contrary to super-human epic hero (Veitch, 225).
Works Cited
Veitch, Jonathan. American Superrealism. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.
Auerbach, Erich. Mimesis, The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.