Topic 13 - Shared knowledge and absurdist drama (Session A) > More about shared schematic knowledge

More about shared schematic knowledge

General knowledge of the world we inhabit

It should be clear from the work we have done on the previous page (shared knowledge) that writers can use the knowledge that we all share. There are two main ways that writers can use schematic assumptions. Firstly, they can omit details which are unimportant to the plot or thematic meaning, relying on the reader to fill them in for them. This saves space and makes the writing less boring. They can also use schematic knowledge productively to create special effects - by writing in a way that disrupts our conventional schematic expectations. We will explore this latter aspect later in this topic, but first it will be helpful to explore in more detail what sorts of things we possess schematic knowledge about. In general terms we will discover that we have detailed schematic knowledge about an enormous number of things.

Home ¦ Outline ¦ Contents ¦ Glossary