Concept in Definition ABC

The term vicissitude has several synonyms, such as andanza, adventure, event or incident. Thus, an incident is a circumstance normally related to a eventsingular and unusual, such as a trip to a remote place, an unexpected event, a series of coincidences, a change in plans or a bumpy vacation.

The adventures of fictional characters

In the world of fiction, it is common for the main characters to experience all kinds of adventures throughout history. The writer tells what happens to the characters and to emphasize the plot it is necessary that things of sudden and unexpected way and, in this sense, an event is an unforeseen change in the course of the events.

In the history of the literature The adventures of Ulises, Don Quixote, Tom Sayer, Romeo and Juliet and Martin Fierro are famous. If we take any of these characters as a reference, what happens to them (the incidents) can be lucky or unfortunate, dangerous or accidental. In other words, the adventures of the characters are a mixture of events of all kinds.

From a literary point of view, some genres are based precisely on the succession of events of different nature, as happens in the novel historical, romantic stories, adventure novels or biographies. In other genres, incidents have a secondary value or are non-existent, as in the test philosophical or literary criticism. On synthesisIt could be said that there are vicissitudes when a story is told.

The connotations of the term

The word vicissitudes or vicissitudes has very precise connotations. With it it is suggested that the content of a story (real or imaginary) is not something ordinary and everyday life, but rather a series of striking and curious facts that, by their nature, call attention. Thus, if someone says "I'm going to tell you about the incidents of my last trip" the one he is listening to is ready to be told something out of the ordinary and shocking, that is, a little adventure.

The connotations of the term are directly related to its etymological origin, since peripecia comes from the Greek peripateia, that in its original sense it referred to the sudden changes that happened to the characters of Greek tragedies and dramas. For this reason, it is not strange that Aristotle affirmed in his work "The Poetics" that the incident is a turn of events in a play.

Photos: Fotolia - Raisa Kanareva / Jurgen Falchle