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Mimesis & Diegesis
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Mimesis & Diegesis
What is Mimesis?
Mimesis is imitation of reality: imagine that you are watching an interaction in front of you. You have no insight into the thoughts, motives, or intentions of others. It is the showing of the story through action.
What is Diegesis?
Diegesis goes beyond reality: by utilizing the all-knowing narrator, you have insights into the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others. It is the telling of a story by an omniscient narrator.
In mimesis, the
author shows through
action alone. (i.e. She said, 'Let's get mortal, lads! Innit!')
It is visual, vocal.
Most narratives we found
were diegetic. (e.g: She
came from Geordie Shore.)
It is sensual, internal.
Step #1
Understand the theory
- Explained in: David Lodge's Mimesis & Diegesis
Step #2
Apply the theory
- Which theory is noticeable in Ernest Hemingway's The Killers?
How can we begin to understand?
- Lodge's Mimesis & Diegesis and Halliwell's Diegesis & Mimesis help us to understand the readings: Hemingway's The Killers and Leigh's Disquiet.
- We can further understand how these theories effect our writing by applying them to other works, including our set text Flaubert's Madame Bovary.
...Got it?
What
does this mean?
- Now lets take a look at Julia Leigh's Disquiet.
We understand that they are opposites.
To understand we must first make the distinction between diegesis & mimesis. Then we can see how they can both
be used.
The history:
Who would think of this, and why?
- Plato's Republic (380BCE)
- Aristotle's Poetics (340BCE)
(Halliwell)
So, should art imitate reality?
Or transcend it?
Step #3
From additional readings
Understand it is not black & white
- Stephen Halliwell's Diegesis & Mimesis explains the scale.
And what was the point of all that?
Question time...
- How does this help our writing?
Understanding these theories leads to greater awareness of how we as writers use narration. Mimesis and diegesis can be regulated and directed to make the reader ask more questions - increasing suspense, drama and ambiguity in our writing.
- How does this hinder our writing?
Being too aware may stifle a writer's creativity when writing a piece, as they may become too concerned with whether they are over-using mimesis or diegesis.
- How does this change the way we think about writing?
We, personally, thought that it opened our eyes to the complexity of writing. It also made us consider the books that we've read in the past and how much mimetic or diegetic narrative is used.
Rose Mary Petrass
Narrative Theory Explained
& Tennessee Lang