Snooty List of Pretentious Terms

Bildungsroman

a coming-of-age story, which focuses on a narrative of a young adult growing morally and psychologically into an adult

Anticlimax

a disappointing situation or a sudden transition in narration from an important idea to a ludicrous or trivial one

picaresque

a kind of narrative fiction made up of the adventures of a wily hero or heroine whom everyone loves and who always gets through by the skin of his/her teeth

foible

a minor weakness of failing in a character, slight flaw or defect, doesn't completely unravel a character but makes them more relatable or realistic

paragon

a person/thing regarded as a perfect example of a particular quality; person/thing viewed as a model of excellence

exigence

a pressing problem or issue that prompts a writer to write or a speaker to speak, an urgent purpose, catalyst for discourse

canon

a traditional collection of writings against which other writings are evaluated. the standard, the stuff you must know to be an expert in the field

counterculture

a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm.

double entendre

a word or expression used in a given context so that it can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué

mimicry

action, practice, or art of copying or closely imitating, humorous and even subversive potential that sets out to challenge the meaning of the thing being copied. used mostly for satire

verismilitude

being believable or having the appearance of being true- something that a reader could see actually happening, maybe like the way a person reacts to a situation

dichotomy

contrast between two things that are entirely different- war/peace hate/love

didactic

instructive- works are written with morals or to teach us something, i.e a fable, animal farm

avante-garde

people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox, with respect to art, culture, and society

milieu

refers to a social environment or more generally any environment or setting

premonitory

serving to warn beforehand-text that might predict the future world and what it may turn into, 1984, Brave New World soma

bombast

speech too pompous for an occasion; pretentious words

denouement

the resolution of the issue of a complicated plot in fiction

Zeitgeist

the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time, era

epistolary

written in the form of a series of letters, a correspondence between two characters, sometimes in diaries between a character and themselves