defamiliarisation

Definitions

The representation of objects anew, in a way that we do not recognize, or that changes our reading of them.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“It therefore works via a process⟳ of ‘defamiliarisation’ (ostranenie) (Shklovsky instances defamiliarisation as an effect to be found in riddles with their play⟳ on words, and in euphemistic references to erotic subjects).”

“Fourth, and finally, while postmodernist works like⟳ Lodge’s Changing Places and Small World give⟳ the impression of being satires, because of their self-conscious and rather thick use⟳ of parody as a means to defamiliarisation, along with their presentation of a humorous world, the satirical attack is actually deflected or blunted by the parody.”

“The fact that defamiliarisation need⟳ not be understood solely in linguistic terms is evident in all kinds of aesthetic experience⟳: for example, a painting or a piece of music can also be understood as ‘defamiliarising’ habitual perceptions.”

CEFR level