Slice of life
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Slice of life is a theatrical term that refers to a naturalistic representation of real life, sometimes used as an adjective, as in, "a play with 'slice of life' dialogue." The term originated in 1890–95 as a translation from the French phrase tranche de vie, credited to the French playwright Jean Jullien (1854–1919).
The slice of life story is a category for a story that portrays a "cut-out" sequence of events in a character's life. It may or may not contain any real plot, and often has no exposition, action, conflict, or denouement, with an open ending. It usually tries to depict the every-day life of ordinary people. The term slice of life is actually a (more or less) dead metaphor: it often seems as if the author had taken a knife and cut out a slice of the lives of some characters, apparently not bothering at all where the cuts were made.
In the 20th century, it expanded to mean the realistic description or representation of events and situations in everyday life in narratology.
During the 1950s, the phrase had common critical usage in reviews of live television dramas, notably teleplays by JP Miller, Paddy Chayefsky and Reginald Rose. At that time, it was sometimes used synonymously with the critical label "kitchen sink realism," adopted from British films and theater.
Examples
- Dubliners, James Joyce - (short story collection)
- "The Sun-Dog Trail", Jack London - (short story)
- Azumanga Daioh, Kiyohiko Azuma - (manga series, anime series)
- "The Traveller", Chris de Burgh - (pop song)
- "The Listeners", Walter de la Mare - (poem)
- Night on Earth, Jim Jarmusch - (movie)
- "Tom's Diner", Suzanne Vega - (pop song)
- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, Hitoshi Ashinano - (manga series)
- Questionable Content, Jeph Jacques - (webcomic)
- Asatte no Houkou, J-ta Yamada - (manga series, anime series)
- Lucky ☆ Star, Kagami Yoshimizu - (manga series, anime series)
- Hidamari Sketch, Ume Aoki - (manga series, anime series)
- Kare Kano, Masami Tsuda - (manga series, anime series)
- Aria, Kozue Amano - (manga series, anime series)
See also