Effect of Reality
Encyclopedia
The effect of reality is a textual device identified by Roland Barthes
the purpose of which was to establish literary texts as realistic
. Barthes suggested that this textual device established the realism of the text through the use of the rhetorical device of ecphrasis
(The Reality Effect in Barthes 1989).
Barthes also showed that this effect of reality was a key problem of historical analysis and writing in that historical writing proclaimed an unproblematic realism that was in fact just this textual device in action (The Discourse of History in Barthes 1989). It was this aspect of the effect of reality that Ankersmit
showed helped to explain both the evolution of historical enquiry and the problematic textual nature of history (Ankersmit 1989).
The concern with realism and the constructed nature of historical and literary facts that both Barthes
and Ankersmit
expressed is also to be found in the field of Discursive psychology
; and Jonathan Potter
has analysed similar problems and issues in his Representing Reality (Potter 1996).
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
the purpose of which was to establish literary texts as realistic
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
. Barthes suggested that this textual device established the realism of the text through the use of the rhetorical device of ecphrasis
Ecphrasis
Ekphrasis or ecphrasis is the graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art. In ancient times it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience...
(The Reality Effect in Barthes 1989).
Barthes also showed that this effect of reality was a key problem of historical analysis and writing in that historical writing proclaimed an unproblematic realism that was in fact just this textual device in action (The Discourse of History in Barthes 1989). It was this aspect of the effect of reality that Ankersmit
Frank Ankersmit
Franklin Rudolf Ankersmit is professor of intellectual history and historical theory at the University of Groningen....
showed helped to explain both the evolution of historical enquiry and the problematic textual nature of history (Ankersmit 1989).
The concern with realism and the constructed nature of historical and literary facts that both Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
and Ankersmit
Frank Ankersmit
Franklin Rudolf Ankersmit is professor of intellectual history and historical theory at the University of Groningen....
expressed is also to be found in the field of Discursive psychology
Discursive psychology
For other uses of the word, see discursive.Discursive psychology is a form of discourse analysis that focuses on psychological themes....
; and Jonathan Potter
Jonathan Potter
Jonathan Potter is Professor of Discourse Analysis and, from February 2010, Head of the Department of Social Sciences, at Loughborough University and one of the originators of discursive psychology.-Life:...
has analysed similar problems and issues in his Representing Reality (Potter 1996).