Pathetic Fallacy
Dec. 1st, 2004 06:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Pathetic Fallacy
John Ruskin coined this term to express his disapproval of phrases that gave passions and conscious intentions to natural phenomena, such as "the gay leaves danced merrily," or "a vengeful wind tortured the cringing flowers." They're "fallacies" because the images are so often corny, clichéd, or strained: "The evening said its prayers as the sun sank gratefully to her watery bed." Pathetic fallacies don't have to be about nature: "The doorknob greeted his hand."
Some writers who have been told about pathetic fallacy worry about it too much. "Pathetic fallacy!" they shout in dismay as if they've spotted a fly in their soup.
Actually, good writers often use such imagery. James dickey looks at tin cans in the mud, "their lids pried-up and cruel," or notes a swift river's "alertness and resourcefulness" as it sweeps over stones and rocks. Metaphors frequently ascribe impossible feelings to nature and natural objects. If you keep using literalist similes ("it was as if," "it was like," "it appeared that") you'll just clutter your prose. A style that attributes feelings to the inanimate world can create strong effects and fresh perceptions. The real principle is this: If it works, it's called a lively metaphor -- if it doesn’t', it's a pathetic fallacy.
See Cliché, Metaphor and Simile.
Pathetic Fallacy
John Ruskin coined this term to express his disapproval of phrases that gave passions and conscious intentions to natural phenomena, such as "the gay leaves danced merrily," or "a vengeful wind tortured the cringing flowers." They're "fallacies" because the images are so often corny, clichéd, or strained: "The evening said its prayers as the sun sank gratefully to her watery bed." Pathetic fallacies don't have to be about nature: "The doorknob greeted his hand."
Some writers who have been told about pathetic fallacy worry about it too much. "Pathetic fallacy!" they shout in dismay as if they've spotted a fly in their soup.
Actually, good writers often use such imagery. James dickey looks at tin cans in the mud, "their lids pried-up and cruel," or notes a swift river's "alertness and resourcefulness" as it sweeps over stones and rocks. Metaphors frequently ascribe impossible feelings to nature and natural objects. If you keep using literalist similes ("it was as if," "it was like," "it appeared that") you'll just clutter your prose. A style that attributes feelings to the inanimate world can create strong effects and fresh perceptions. The real principle is this: If it works, it's called a lively metaphor -- if it doesn’t', it's a pathetic fallacy.
See Cliché, Metaphor and Simile.