DevicesAdvanced
Defamiliarization
Rendering the familiar strange so it can be seen again.
Principle
Habit dulls perception; art interrupts habit.
Takeaways
- Description that resists the obvious word can revive a stale subject.
- Defamiliarization at sentence level slows the reader productively.
- Overdone, it becomes mannerism.
Overview
Defamiliarization (Shklovsky's ostranenie) is the deliberate technique of presenting common things in unfamiliar ways to renew perception. It is the philosophical heart of much modernist prose.
Examples
- A character watches a clock as if seeing time for the first time.
- A familiar street is described from the angle of an animal.
- A wedding is rendered in the cadence of a courtroom.