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Defamiliarization in Literature: Examples and How to Use It

May 11, 2020

Defamiliarization, as the word implies, is a process where something familiar is no longer perceived as such. Specifically in writing, defamiliarization in literature refers to a technique (a literary device, in a sense) where the writer offers familiar, common things in an odd, unorthodox way.

The purpose of defamiliarization is to cause the readers to question their perception of reality and, as a result, ultimately redefine it.

In a way, defamiliarization in literature is a destabilizing process. All such literary devices – see, for instance, my post on juxtaposition – enhance the readers’ perception of reality. Therefore, perhaps ironically, although defamiliarization causes you to initially question reality (the known and familiar), through this process it actually facilitates a much deeper and more comprehensive understanding of reality.

In this post we’ll take a closer (yet accessible) look at defamiliarization in literature, with examples and tips on how to use it properly – that is, packing as much symbolic meaning as possible in your text. Remember that literature is more than a sum of its parts, which means that a quality text should inspire more meanings than what its words allow.

Defamiliarization in literature; image of rags hanging, appearing like ghosts
A piece of fabric can be the most common, mundane, and everyday thing. But not always…
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A JavaScript Transitive Verb Detector

April 24, 2020

Unsurprisingly, language, texts, and literature play a central role in my coding. On many occasions – for instance, with my iambic pentameter generator and my rhyming anapest generator, just to name two – one common issue has been that the code couldn’t separate transitive from intransitive verbs. Annoyed enough by that, I decided to code a JavaScript transitive verb detector.

Just in case you need a reminder, a transitive verb is one that can take one or more objects: “She drank water”. Conversely, an intransitive verb is one that cannot take an object: “He sneezed”. We can’t say “*He sneezed his nose” or something like that.

A JavaScript transitive verb detector is very useful when creating random text (as I often do). Without a transitive verb detector, some very peculiar random sentences can be formed, that are basically ungrammatical, like the one we saw above.

The best thing about this JavaScript transitive verb detector is that it’s fairly simple, too!

JavaScript transitive verb detector
A JavaScript transitive verb detector helps us determine the difference between “I see clouds” and “I fly”. Parenthetically, the code superimposed on the image is the actual code used (see the end of this post)
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How to Translate Poetry: Rhyme, Meter, Affect, Meaning

April 12, 2020

Translating can be challenging – some words simply don’t have a direct equivalent in another language. Translating prose (a novel or short story) is even more challenging, as the translator needs to also convey affectliterature is more than a sum of its parts, remember. But learning how to translate poetry must be the ultimate challenge for a translator.

With poetry, it’s not just about translating the text in question, conveying the meaningIn the context of this post, meaning refers to the word-by-word meaning; what the narrative talks about.. It’s not even about merely conveying affect, as with prose. Instead, to translate poetry you need to worry about several things at once: meaning, affect, meter, and possibly rhyme.

If you put all these elements together, you might wonder how on earth can poetry be translated at all!

As someone who has translated poetry, I can tell you it’s possible. But yes, it’s super hard to do properly. In today’s post I’ll share with you some tips that will help you translate poetry effectively, intelligently, and – above all – respecting the original author.

how to translate poetry
To translate poetry efficiently, you must find the perfect balance between meaning, affect, meter, and rhyme
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