How would you characterize literature described as "operatic" vs "balletic" vs "balladic", et cetera? What connotations to those words hold when translated from a musical stage into written word (or adapted written word, a la movies)? What words, phrases, feelings come to mind?
For me, "opera" implies something austere, perhaps pretentious, and sticking to the classical dramatic story arcs of tragedies or comedies. Whereas "ballet" implies a story that's more personal, fleshing out actual characters, and focusing on accentuating very particular light or dark traits of the main character. And "ballad" suggests a story that's rooted in a culture or subculture, retold for either nostalgia's or for irony's sake.I know literally nothing about classical music/stage performance, and the above is pulled from me having watched Black Swan, TDKR, and being subjected to a lot of country singers.
>How would you characterize literature described as "operatic" vs "balletic" vs "balladic", et cetera?
I'd characterize that as being pretentious. Where did you see people describe literature like that in the first place?
>>7683594
Pretentious, maybe. It'd be pretentious if someone only used the word because it sounded like a Cool Word to Use, but translating the structures of art forms into other mediums is nothing new. Which is why I want to have a better gut-level understanding of words like the above (feel free to add more to the list) for my working vernacular.
>>7683707
Well, I've never seen anyone describe a book as "balletic". And, anyway, such descriptions sound pretty pointless when the reader (in this case, you) has to ask other people to explain what the critic wanted to say.
>>7683947
But the point of my asking is to be better informed and more well versed in understanding works via different modes. Seems there isn't any concern for it on here, though. In what I referenced earlier, at least two reviews of TDKR described it as "operatic" and was intrigued, but wanted a fuller understanding of that line of thinking (hence the other comparable words).
>>7684321
In the case of TDKR, "operatic" means melodramatic and full of bombast. Think Ride of the Valkyries.
>>7684359
Cool, thanks, that's the type of thing I was looking for. Other words that evoke different feelings and references to other works.
intriguing thread
