# Is there a name for this literary device? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160 "2014-04-15T08:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/21 "2014-04-16T12:52:03Z")
It’s decades since I read the P. C. Wren books, but, as i recall, the books after Beau Geste filled in some of the blanks (often in flashback) using different viewpoint characters. So it was a combination of retaining a clear story line for Beau and leaving himself plenty room to create the backstory of later books without having to work everything out for book one. If he had said it was an uneventful journey, or made no reference to exciting episodes, it would be more difficult for him to later set important scenes then without readers feeling that _some_ sort of clue should have been given. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/22 "2014-04-17T01:22:14Z")
I don’t think there’s a literary term for this, because by definition, literary terms are used for things that raise the artistic level of the work. More likely, this would be classified under a negative term for laziness, poor narrative, bad editing, typo, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/23 "2014-04-17T02:45:33Z")
What do you mean by “raise the artistic level”? There are lots of literary terms that are critical of the effect being produced. Here are a bunch of literary terms: > **[Glossary of literary terms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_literary_terms)** > > This glossary of literary terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in the discussion, classification, analysis, and criticism of all types of literature, such as poetry, novels, and picture books, as well as of grammar, syntax, and language techniques. For a more complete glossary of terms relating to poetry in particular, see Glossary of poetry terms. > .mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-out... I would consider each of the following to be critical: anachronism anticlimax bombast bowdlerization cliché doggerel hagiography And those are just the first ones I found going through alphabetically, sticking to terms that I’m familiar with, so there are undoubtedly many others. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/24 "2014-04-17T18:03:35Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > It’s hard to respond without knowing the books you’re referencing better. In Lovecraft’s case, he was a believer in using suggestion and inference to build suspense; the whole “horrors too intense to relate” bit is his way of making you use your imagination to scare yourself, basically. I think it’s actually a little more than letting the readers do the work. One of the main tropes of Lovecraft is that we humans, despite our supposed ruling of the planet, are really insignificant and powerless. Part of what makes the horrible things scary is that the fact they are indescribable, and therefore incomprehensible and uncontrollable. If something is so alien that we can’t even reach the step of being able to put words or concepts to it, then what hope have we of even avoiding it, much less controlling it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/25 "2014-04-17T18:57:42Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Or, how about this French author (translated from Latin): How about the old mathematical favorite: “It is left as an exercise for the reader…” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/26 "2014-04-17T19:17:32Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Possibly, but it’s still jarring and it’s not something you see in modern books for the most part. Back then it might have been relatively unfamiliar to readers. Today it would be overly-familiar (and condemned as a cop-out). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/27 "2014-04-17T19:50:28Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Back then it might have been relatively unfamiliar to readers. Today it would be overly-familiar (and condemned as a cop-out). Not if they were familiar with 1001 Nights. Statements like, “…was more marvelous than could be inscribed in the corner of a camel’s eye with a needle”, are pretty frequent. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/28 "2014-04-17T20:03:45Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > So, to get back to the point: is there a (serious) name for the 1880s-1920s literary device where the author spends a lot of time on seemingly irrelevant or not necessarily exciting stuff and then “fast forwards” through potentially interesting or exciting stuff with a handwave/glossy coat of moving right along? It’s called [Yadda-Yadda.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av64gOA9nXM) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/29 "2014-04-17T20:04:00Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Not if they were familiar with 1001 Nights. Statements like, “…was more marvelous than could be inscribed in the corner of a camel’s eye with a needle”, are pretty frequent. Well, there is the question of how many would have been familiar, up through the early 20th century. Given the infamous reputation (sex!) of Burton’s translation, for one, the _Nights_ wouldn’t have been exactly nursery-room fare (not in English-speaking areas, anyway). Also: not a novel. Possibly the standards we hold for “traditional tales” differ from the standards we hold for novels, attributable as they are to named authors. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/30 "2014-04-17T20:08:47Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > It’s called [Yadda-Yadda.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av64gOA9nXM) The closest non-Seinfeldian term would probably be ellipsis. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/31 "2014-04-17T20:11:34Z")
The literary device is called “editing.” For centuries, editors (employed by the publishers) were ruthless devils determined to cut a story down to the bone, and then to the marrow, to save publishing costs. A writer would submit a 1,000-page gift of literary perfection, and an editor would say “We’ll publish this if you can cut out 550 pages.” So the author was forced to remove important chunks of his (or her) work and say stuff like “but that’s not important right now” to the reader. Over time, readers got tired of this, and rebelled. This gave the writers more power to leave things in and tell the editors to stuff it. We’re now at the extreme other end of this pendulum, as evidenced by George R.R. Martin being able to take 31 pages to describe the food and fashions at a wedding in the \*Song of Ice and Fire \*series, which is not about food, fashion, or weddings. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/32 "2014-04-18T02:01:23Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > The literary device is called “editing.” I’m not sure I agree, in that “editing” to me is more applicable to telling an author they can’t spend 30 pages describing the food in a novel which is not about a banquet, rather than saying “Pay no attention to the awesome thing happening here” as the reader is ushered past something like a giant octpus fight, daring escape from a castle, or epic battle. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160/33 "2014-04-18T03:00:37Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Well, there is the question of how many would have been familiar, up through the early 20th century. Given the infamous reputation (sex!) of Burton’s translation, for one, the _Nights_ wouldn’t have been exactly nursery-room fare (not in English-speaking areas, anyway). Well it wouldn’t be infamous if it wasn’t famous. People might not grow up hearing the stories, but that doesn’t mean they can’t seek them out as soon as they’re old enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-literary-device/686160.md?page=1)