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In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative. [1] Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject". [2] Themes are often distinguished from premises.
The journey of Odysseus presented in Homer's Odyssey is a quintessential example of nostos in Ancient Greek literature. Nostos (Ancient Greek: νόστος, romanized: nostos) is a theme used in Ancient Greek literature, which includes an epic hero returning home, often by sea. In Ancient Greek society, it was deemed a high level of heroism or ...
Ernst Robert Curtius studied topoi as "commonplaces", themes common to orators and writers who re-worked them according to occasion, e.g., in classical antiquity the observation that "all must die" was a topos in consolatory oratory, for in facing death the knowledge that death comes even to great men brings comfort. [2]
Time travel is a common theme in fiction, mainly since the late 19th century, and has been depicted in a variety of media, such as literature, television, film, and advertisements. [1] [2] The concept of time travel by mechanical means was popularized in H. G. Wells' 1895 story, The Time Machine.
Another example from modern American literature is the green light found in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Narratives may include multiple motifs of varying types. In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, he uses a variety of narrative elements to create many different motifs. Imagistic references to blood and water are continually ...
Sharing literary conventions, they typically consist of similarities in theme/topic, style, tropes, and storytelling devices; common settings and character types; and/or formulaic patterns of character interactions and events, and an overall predictable form.
For example, referring to actions of the U.S. president as "actions of the White House". Antonomasia - A kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name. Synecdoche – A literary device, related to metonymy and metaphor, which creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept. For example ...
Immortality is a common theme in fiction. The concept has been depicted since the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known work of fiction. Originally appearing in the domain of mythology, it has later become a recurring element in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy.