Flavor text
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| - | In [[literature]], an '''epigraph''' is a phrase, [[quotation]], or [[poem]] that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider [[Canon (fiction)|literary canon]], either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context. | ||
| - | ==Examples== | + | '''Flavor text''' is [[Written language|text]] for [[action figure]] character backgrounds, [[Card games|playing card]]s, or within the pages of a [[role-playing game]]'s [[rulebook]]. While appropriate to the product's or game's story concept, it usually has no effect on the [[Game mechanic|mechanics]] of the game, but instead serves to add realism or characterization to the item in question. Flavor text is often the last text on a card or on the rear of a toy card or package, and is usually printed in [[Emphasis (typography)|italics]] or written between quotes to distinguish it from game-affecting text. |
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| - | * The long quotation from [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[The_Divine_Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]]'' that prefaces [[T. S. Eliot]]'s ''[[The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock]]'' is part of a speech by one of the damned in Dante's Hell. Linking it to the monologue which forms Eliot's poem adds a comment and a dimension to Prufrock's confession. The epigraph to Eliot's ''Gerontion'' is a quotation from [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Measure for Measure]]''. | + | |
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| - | * Also by Eliot, the poem ''[[The Hollow Men]]'' uses the line "Mistah [[Kurtz (Heart of Darkness)|Kurtz]], he dead" from [[Joseph Conrad]]'s ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'' as an epigraph to the original manuscript. | + | |
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| - | * The epigraphs to the preamble of [[Georges Perec]]'s ''[[Life: A User's Manual]]'' (''La Vie mode d'emploi'') and to the book as a whole warn the reader that tricks are going to be played and that all will not be what it seems. | + | |
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| - | * The epigraph to [[E. L. Doctorow]]'s ''[[Ragtime (novel)|Ragtime]]'' quotes [[Scott Joplin]]'s instructions to those who play his music, "Do not play this piece fast. It is never right to play ''Ragtime'' fast." This stands in contrast to the accelerating pace of American society at the turn of the 20th century. | + | |
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| - | * The epigraph to [[Dostoevsky]]'s ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'' is John 12:24. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." | + | |
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| - | * [[Stephen King]] uses many epigraphs in his writing, usually to mark the beginning of another section in the novel. An unusual example is ''[[The Stand]]'' where he uses lyrics from certain songs to express the metaphor used in a particular part. | + | |
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| - | * [[Jack London]] uses epigraph in the beginning of [[Call of the Wild]]. | + | |
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| - | * As an epigraph to ''[[The Sun Also Rises]]'', [[Ernest Hemingway]] famously quotes [[Gertrude Stein]], "You are all a lost generation." | + | |
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| - | * A [[Samuel Johnson]] quote is used as an epigraph in [[Hunter S. Thompson]]'s novel ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' ("He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"). | + | |
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| - | ===Fictional quotations=== | + | |
| - | Some authors use fictional quotations that purport to be related to the fiction of the work itself. For example, [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Half]]'' has epigraphs taken from the fictitious novels written by the protagonist; [[Jasper Fforde]]'s ''[[The Eyre Affair]]'' has quotations from supposedly future works about the action of the story; [[John Green (author)|John Green]]'s ''[[The Fault in Our Stars]]'' has a quotation from a fictitious novel, ''An Imperial Affliction'', which features prominently as a part of the story. [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' opens with a poem entitled "Then Wear the Gold Hat," purportedly written by [[Thomas Parke D'Invilliers]]. D'Invilliers is a character in Fitzgerald's first novel, ''[[This Side of Paradise]]'' and it should also be noted that, aside from its role as a tie-in to the Fitzgerald canon, the poem elucidates one of the major themes of the work. This cliché is parodied by [[Diana Wynne Jones]] in ''[[The Tough Guide To Fantasyland]]''. | + | |
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| - | [[Dean Koontz|Dean Koontz']] ''[[The Book of Counted Sorrows]]'' began as a fictional book of poetry from which Koontz would "quote" when no suitable existing option was available; Koontz simply wrote all these epigraphs himself. Many fans, rather than realizing the work was Koontz' own invention, apparently believed it was a real, but rare, volume; Koontz later collected the existing verse into an actual book. | + | |
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| - | Some science fiction works ([[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation Trilogy]]'' and [[Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[Dune (franchise)|Dune]]'' series are examples) use quotations from an imagined future history of the period of their story. This can be seen as a way of constructing authenticity for a work of the imagination. | + | |
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| - | The film [[Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby]] opens with a fictional quotation from the real historical figure [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], using the epigraph to comedic effect. | + | |
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Epigram]] | + | *[[Fluff (fiction)]] |
| - | *[[Incipit]] | + | *[[Epigraph (literature)]] |
| - | *[[Flavor text]] | + | *[[National Puzzlers' League]] |
| - | *[[Prologue]] | + | *[[Puzzle hunt]] |
| - | ==Bibliography== | + | {{GFDL}} |
| - | *[[John Barth]] ''The Friday Book'' (1984) pp.xvii-xviii{{GFDL}} | + | |
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Flavor text is text for action figure character backgrounds, playing cards, or within the pages of a role-playing game's rulebook. While appropriate to the product's or game's story concept, it usually has no effect on the mechanics of the game, but instead serves to add realism or characterization to the item in question. Flavor text is often the last text on a card or on the rear of a toy card or package, and is usually printed in italics or written between quotes to distinguish it from game-affecting text.
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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Flavor text" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
