defamiliarisation

Definition

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

Etymology

From de- + familiar + -isation; possibly a calque of Russian остранение (ostranenije) as used by Russian critic Viktor Shklovsky.

Example Sentences

• "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."