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]

Anecdote in weight loss advertising
  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