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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2 |
I want a word that describes the "in real life" enactment of a metaphor/story/situation that occurs in a piece of literature.
Example: Robert Frost's famous "two roads diverged."
I want to construct a sentence that says, "Quite a XXX of the archetypal two roads."
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Hi and welcome HNK.
Does not the simple form do it?
"Quite an example of the archetypal two roads."
- or exemplum if you want to be fancy and Latinate ;)
If this bus doesn't go where you want, there'll be another few along shortly.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
exemplar
instantiation
instance
In slightly different circumstances, one might use
specimen
implementation
case in point
k
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
"Quite a life-imitating-art of the archetypal two roads."
This isn't a serious submission, of course, but it might spark some more ideas.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
How about "embodiment"? Or "incarnation"?
And welcome to the world of wordies, HNK.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
You are speaking, I take it, in this example, of a decision with life altering and irretrievable consequences and not of a fork in the road. I wonder why you would want such a word at all -- 'example,' 'instantiation,' etc., when the power of the metaphor, if it is worth its salt, and if it has been so established as the archtypal, best, or canonical expression that it is itself the best term. In that case, the metaphor weakened, in my mind, by the construction of your sentence, which only references, but does not employ, it. That construction would, however, function very well, if it were used in elision: the notion of example being suggested, but not actually stated. As a "grammatical" question, however, I think the question is interesting whether there a specific term for this. And I have no idea the answer.
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2 |
Hmmmm, I was hoping there was a word I didn't know of that encapsulated the precise "literature to life" definition. That would be a fabulous word! Something more sexy and classic (possibly french?) sounding than "lit-to-life."
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3 |
The term does not convey the full range of meaning but how about "tableau vivant," meaning a representation of some scene by means of persons grouped in the proper manner, placed in appropriate postures, and remaining silent and motionless. Think of Robert Altman's tableau vivant of da Vinci's Last Supper in the 1970 film adaptation of MASH.
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