Back نادرة (حكاية) Arabic Anekdot AZ آنئکدوت AZB Anècdota Catalan Anecdot CY Anekdote Danish Anekdote German Ανέκδοτο Greek Anekdoto EO Anécdota Spanish

Anecdote

For the 1989 film, see Anecdote (film).

An anecdote[1][2] is "a story with a point",[3] such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait.[4]

Anecdotes may be real or fictional;[5] the anecdotal digression is a common feature of literary works[6] and even oral anecdotes typically involve subtle exaggeration and dramatic shape designed to entertain the listener.[7] An anecdote is always presented as the recounting of a real incident involving actual people and usually in an identifiable place. In the words of Jürgen Hein, they exhibit "a special realism" and "a claimed historical dimension".[8]

  1. ^ Cuddon, J. A. (1992). Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory Third Ed. London: Penguin Books. p. 42.
  2. ^ Oxford Dictionary's definition of an anecdote
  3. ^ Epstein 1989, pp. xix
  4. ^ Epstein, Lawrence (1989). A Treasury of Jewish Anecdotes. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. pp. xix. ISBN 9780876688908.
  5. ^ Kennedy, X. J. (2005). Handbook of Literary Terms, Third Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. p. 8.
  6. ^ Cuddon 1992, p. 42
  7. ^ Hein, Jürgen (1981). "Die Anekdote". Formen der Literatur in Einzeldarstellungen. By Knörrich, Otto. Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner. p. 15.
  8. ^ Hein 1981, p. 15