Writing Help 129 | - ☆ Freelance Writer
Apr 05, 2013 | #1
Terms You Need for Writing about the Novel
As we discussed in a previous article on hamartia, hubris, and nemesis, the influence of the Greeks, especially Aristotle, in the area of novel studies, has been significant, and their terminology remains with us to this day. Catharsis is one such Greek term that has found a limited home in contemporary culture, and although it is still considered somewhat highbrow, its use in the popular media has spread beyond sophisticated educational programming. Most of us have heard the term cathartic used in everyday conversation, and we usually understand it to mean causing us to have a good cry. This strikes to the heart of the term as it is used in literary studies, and although its meaning is more expansive, the emotional response involved is integral.
Catharsis comes from the Greek, as we mentioned above, and means cleansing, purifying, or purging. Of course, just as they were for the ancient Greeks, these terms are intertwined in English, and are all related through linguistic use and ritual. The idea of dirtiness carries with it the concomitant idea of contamination, which is the addition of something foreign (and unwanted) to a given (desirable) substance. In order to make something clean, we must remove (or purge) the undesirable substance, the contamination, from it. Once this purging takes place, we are left with the pure substance, and so this whole process can be known as purification.
We have also taken this literal process and applied it metaphorically, giving us the idea of ritual purification, where we take something that is considered spiritually unclean, and purge the contamination (or evil) from it, to leave us once again with a pure (or holy) substance. The act of confession in the Catholic Church, for example, uses these ideas in an act of ritual purification; the soul is made unclean through the contamination of sin, and by verbalizing the sin, we expel it from ourselves and are thus free of it, leaving the purged soul pure and clean once more.
As we use the term in literary studies today, catharsis refers to the emotional experience an audience undergoes in response to a dramatic situation. The emotional experience must be intense, extreme, and rapid, and is often described as climactic. The emotion associated with catharsis is usually great sadness or pity, but it can also be lighter, involving joy or exhilaration. The most evident and effective examples of this phenomenon occur when, through the course of a literary work, we are moved rapidly from extremes of joy, to sorrow, and back again. Catharsis must involve a sense of release, a feeling of tension expelled after a significant period of build-up. It is emotionally satisfying, and it offers a sense of completion and closure in a literary work that is difficult to achieve without it.
It must be remarked, however, that catharsis is not merely a matter of portraying characters that go through such emotional highs and lows as we have been discussing here. Catharsis is something that can happen to characters, to be sure, but the term is primarily used to refer to the reactions of audiences and readers, not characters. It seems like the two may go hand in hand, but the difference is a vital distinction to make. After all, a complete hack can write a tale about characters who have cathartic experiences; after all, the author creates the characters and can make them do and feel anything at all. However, it takes a talented author to present a world full of compelling characters and situations which involve readers to a high degree. This ability to engage readers is absolutely essential to leading them through a cathartic experience, and if the readers can feel no empathy for the characters in a given novel, catharsis will not be achieved.
Catharsis
As we discussed in a previous article on hamartia, hubris, and nemesis, the influence of the Greeks, especially Aristotle, in the area of novel studies, has been significant, and their terminology remains with us to this day. Catharsis is one such Greek term that has found a limited home in contemporary culture, and although it is still considered somewhat highbrow, its use in the popular media has spread beyond sophisticated educational programming. Most of us have heard the term cathartic used in everyday conversation, and we usually understand it to mean causing us to have a good cry. This strikes to the heart of the term as it is used in literary studies, and although its meaning is more expansive, the emotional response involved is integral.
Catharsis comes from the Greek, as we mentioned above, and means cleansing, purifying, or purging. Of course, just as they were for the ancient Greeks, these terms are intertwined in English, and are all related through linguistic use and ritual. The idea of dirtiness carries with it the concomitant idea of contamination, which is the addition of something foreign (and unwanted) to a given (desirable) substance. In order to make something clean, we must remove (or purge) the undesirable substance, the contamination, from it. Once this purging takes place, we are left with the pure substance, and so this whole process can be known as purification.We have also taken this literal process and applied it metaphorically, giving us the idea of ritual purification, where we take something that is considered spiritually unclean, and purge the contamination (or evil) from it, to leave us once again with a pure (or holy) substance. The act of confession in the Catholic Church, for example, uses these ideas in an act of ritual purification; the soul is made unclean through the contamination of sin, and by verbalizing the sin, we expel it from ourselves and are thus free of it, leaving the purged soul pure and clean once more.
As we use the term in literary studies today, catharsis refers to the emotional experience an audience undergoes in response to a dramatic situation. The emotional experience must be intense, extreme, and rapid, and is often described as climactic. The emotion associated with catharsis is usually great sadness or pity, but it can also be lighter, involving joy or exhilaration. The most evident and effective examples of this phenomenon occur when, through the course of a literary work, we are moved rapidly from extremes of joy, to sorrow, and back again. Catharsis must involve a sense of release, a feeling of tension expelled after a significant period of build-up. It is emotionally satisfying, and it offers a sense of completion and closure in a literary work that is difficult to achieve without it.
It must be remarked, however, that catharsis is not merely a matter of portraying characters that go through such emotional highs and lows as we have been discussing here. Catharsis is something that can happen to characters, to be sure, but the term is primarily used to refer to the reactions of audiences and readers, not characters. It seems like the two may go hand in hand, but the difference is a vital distinction to make. After all, a complete hack can write a tale about characters who have cathartic experiences; after all, the author creates the characters and can make them do and feel anything at all. However, it takes a talented author to present a world full of compelling characters and situations which involve readers to a high degree. This ability to engage readers is absolutely essential to leading them through a cathartic experience, and if the readers can feel no empathy for the characters in a given novel, catharsis will not be achieved.