quote:Motif: (Also known as Motiv or Leitmotiv.) A theme, character type, image, Metaphor, or other verbal element that recurs throughout a single work of literature or occurs in a number of different works over a period of time. For example, the various manifestations of the color white in Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a "specific" motif, while the trials of star-crossed lovers is a "conventional" motif from the literature of all periods.
posted
Leitmotif comes from the German term Leitmotiv (leading motif).
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but as I understand it, Leitmotif is most properly applied to the major motif of the work whereas there can be several diffent motifs in a work.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I was talking to my fencing coach last night about what's going on with me medically (since it does affect my fencing to some degree) and I told him that the doc said that if I had acute leukemia, I'd already be dead.
So he said, "What if it's an ugly leukemia?"
Now, I got the joke. But I didn't think it was funny. So I ignored it.
He felt he had to explain. "You know a cute leukem--."
"I GOT it. I ignored it, since acknowledging it only encourages you."
>_<
...and I also have a Glossary of Literary Terms I got in one of my classes in college and have used many, many times.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Doesn't leitmotif usually refer to music, where there is a main theme in an opera or symphony that leads the rest? I guess it might refer to literature too; I just haven't heard it used with literature.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Mack, never criticize someone with a sharp pointy weapon unless your is bigger, or you know how to use it better. (Honest, this sounded less naughty when I thought of it)
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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