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Theme (literature)
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In contemporary literary studies, a theme is the central topic, subject, or concept addressed in a
story, not to be confused with whatever message, moral, or commentary it may send or be
interpreted as sending regarding said concept (i.e., its inferred "thesis"). While the term "theme" was
for a period used to reference "message" or "moral," literary critics now rarely employ it in this

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fashion, [citation needed] namely due to the confusion it causes regarding the common denotation of

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theme: "[t]he subject of discourse, discussion, conversation, meditation, or composition; a topic."[1]

One historic problem with the previous usage was that readers would frequently conflate "subject"
and "theme" as similar concepts, a confusion that the new terminology helps prevent in both
scholarship and the classroom. Thus, according to recent scholarship and pedagogy, identifying a
story's themefor example, "death"does not inherently involve identifying the story's thesis or
claims about "death's" definitions, properties, values, or significance. Like morals or messages,
themes often explore historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas and are almost
always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is

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considered one of the fundamental components of fiction. [2]

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Contents [hide]
1 Techniques
1.1 Leitwortstil
1.2 Thematic patterning

Catal

2 See also

Deutsch

3 References

Espaol

4 External links

Esperanto
Gagauz
Galego

Techniques

Various techniques may be used to express many more themes.

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Leitwortstil

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Trke

Ting Vit

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Leitwortstil is the purposeful saying of words throughout a literary piece that usually expresses a
motif or theme important to the story. This device dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights,
also known as the Arabian Nights, which connects several tales together in a story cycle. The
storytellers of the tales relied on this technique "to shape the constituent members of their story
cycles into a coherent whole." [3][verification needed] This technique is also used frequently in Hebrew
narratives.[4]

Thematic patterning

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Thematic patterning is "the distribution of recurrent thematic concepts and moralistic motifs among
the various incidents and frames of a story. Thematic patterning may be arranged so as to emphasize
the unifying argument or salient idea which disparate events and disparate frames have in common".
This technique also dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights.[3][verification needed]

See also
Moral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_(literature)[25/02/2012 17:36:38]

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Theme (literature) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Motif (narrative)

References

[edit]

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary , retrieved January 26, 2012

2. ^ Obstfeld, 2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171.
3. ^ a b Heath, Peter (May 1994), "Reviewed work(s) Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by
David Pinault", International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press) 26 (2): 358
360 [35960]
4. ^ Alter, Robert, Art of Biblical Narrative, pp.9295

Obstfeld, Raymond (2002), Fiction First Aid: Instant Remedies for Novels, Stories and Scripts,
Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, ISBN158297117x

External links

[edit]

Wiktionary definition
Common Themes in Literature
v

Narrative

Character
Plot

[hide]

Antagonist/Archenemy Characterization Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character

Foil character Protagonist Supporting character Tritagonist Viewpoint character
Climax Conflict Dnouement Dialogue Dramatic structure Exposition Falling action
Plot device Subplot Trope-Clich

Setting

Dystopia Fictional city Fictional country Fictional location Fictional universe Utopia

Theme

Leitmotif Moral Motif

Style

Diction Figure of speech Imagery Literary technique Narrative mode Stylistic device
Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone

Form

Fable-Parable Fabliaux Fairy tale Flash story Folktale-Legend Hypertext Novel Novella
Play Poem Screenplay Short story List of narrative forms

Genre

Adventure Comic Crime Docufiction Epistolary Erotic Faction Fantasy Historical

Horror Magic realism Mystery Paranoid Philosophical Political Romance Saga Satire
Science Speculative Superhero Thriller Urban

Narrator
Tense

Alternating person First-person Second-person Third-person (Limited Objective Omniscient

Subjective) Stream of consciousness The narrative types of the narrator Unreliable
Past tense Present tense Future tense

Medium

Screenwriting

Related

Audience Author Fiction writing Creative nonfiction Literary theory Narrative structure
Narratology Other narrative modes Rhetoric Storytelling
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This page was last modified on 22 February 2012 at 02:13.

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