Slice of life story

A 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 plot progress and little character development, and often has no exposition, conflict, or denouement, with an open ending. It usually tries to depict the every-day life of ordinary people, sometimes with fantasy or science fiction elements involved. The term "slice of life" is actually a dead metaphor: it often seems as if the author had taken a knife and "cut out" a slice of the lives of some characters, without concern for narrative form. It is sometimes called "tranche de vie", from the French.

John Steinbeck is an example of someone who uses "slice of life." Steinbeck takes experiences from his own life and makes characters who could very well be real characters and turns it into a story. An example is Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men". [cite news | author=Joe Banno | title=Reigning Men | url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=22741 | publisher=Washington City Paper | date=November 9-15, 2001 | accessdate=2008-06-05 | quote=It does justice to both Of Mice and Men's European smarts and its italicized form of Americana, without apologizing or attempting to hammer itself back into Steinbeck's slice-of-life original. ]

It has also been defined as an "episode of actual experience represented realistically and with little alteration in a dramatic, fictional, or journalistic work." (cp. [http://www.answers.com/topic/slice-of-life Answers.com] ).

Slice of life stories appear in books, TV shows, movies and video games. Super Jinsei Game and Bakushou!! Jinsei Gekijou are two examples of "slice of life" video games. Slice of life stories may either be dramatic or otherwise presented in a very serious nature, or may be used to help frame a comedic setting. Sports may be present in "slice of life" in a thematic form in order to advance the plot of the story.

Examples

* "Aria", Kozue Amano - (manga series, anime series)cite web | url=http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=513&Itemid=70 | title=ADV's Abandoned Manga | author=Dirk Deppey | publisher=The Comics Journal |date=2007-01-24 | accessdate=2008-01-06 | quote=Like this manga's closest spiritual contemporary, Hitoshi Ashinano's "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou", it doesn't have story arcs so much as an endless string of idyllic moments. Rather than a plot, "Aria" contains a series of encounters with customers, townspeople and the city and surrounding countryside.]
* "Asatte no Houkou", J-ta Yamada - (manga series, anime series)Fact|date=January 2008
* "Azumanga Daioh", Kiyohiko Azuma - (manga series, anime series)cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/azumanga-daioh/gn-omnibus-edition | title=Azumanga Daioh GN - Omnibus Edition | author=Carl Kimlinger | publisher=Anime News Network |date=2007-12-15 | accessdate=2007-12-16 | quote=Azumanga Daioh is a slice-of-life chronicle of high-school friendships cranked up to just the right extremity to be absolutely hilarious.]
* "", Harold Sakuishi - (manga series, anime series)
* "Crayon Shin-chan", Yoshito Usui - (manga series, anime series)Fact|date=April 2008
* "Dubliners", James Joyce - (short story collection)cite web | title=James Joyce, Dubliners Unabridged | author=Christopher White | url=http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_joyce_dublinersunabridged.html | publisher=Green Man Review | accessdate=2007-12-16 | quote=The structure and content of the Dubliner stories, with their 'slice of life' approach and often lack of overt dramatic conflict and resolution, are today thoroughly familiar forms and devices, but were part of the explorations engaged in by Joyce and his contemporaries that transformed our literary tradition.]
* "Genshiken" - (manga series, anime series)Fact|date=January 2008
* "The Gum Thief", Douglas Coupland - (Novel)Fact|date=February 2008
* "Hai! Akko desu", (manga series, anime series)
* "Hidamari Sketch", Ume Aoki - (manga series, anime series)cite web |url=http://animesugoi.animeblogger.net/archives/613 | title= Hidamari Sketch| Date=December 20, 2007 | quote=For those of you who wish, count how many words generated in this post and we will see if it beats 1000. For I will talk about Hidamari Sketch, a slice of life anime thrown together with comedy, chibi, and a bit of cuteness that is not overbearing. ]
*"Kare Kano", Masami Tsuda - (manga series, anime series)Cite web|url=http://www.anime-planet.com/reviews/a43.html | title=Reviews Kare Kano aka His and Her Circumstances| publisher=Anime Planet | date=2004-09-11| accessdate=2008-02-07 | quote=...I like slice of life shows. I like slow shows, and I like shows about nothing. But nothing about this slice of life type show was amusing, funny, or exciting, except the weak concept of a relationship which was ditched for randomness and "humor" early on. ]
* "The Listeners", Walter de la Mare - (poem)Fact|date=January 2008
* "Lucky☆Star", Kagami Yoshimizu - (manga series, anime series)cite web| url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7222 | title="Lucky Star (TV)" | quote=Genres: comedy, slice of life ]
* "Night on Earth", Jim Jarmusch - (movie)Fact|date=January 2008
* "Questionable Content", Jeph Jacques - (webcomic)Fact|date=January 2008
* "Seinfeld", Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld (television series) Cite web|url=http://www.eng.umu.se/city/annika/seinfeld.htm |title="Seinfeld a Study of Modern Character" |publisher=Annika Backlund |accessdate=2008-02-28 | quote=...Television offers its viewers a slice of life of New York citizen Jerry Seinfeld and friends... ]
*"The Sims" (videogame series by EA)
* "Story of My Life", Social Distortion - (rock song)
* "The Sun-Dog Trail", Jack London - (short story)Fact|date=January 2008
* "To Heart" , Ukyou Takao and Naohito Takahashi - (manga series, anime series)Cite web|url=http://allthingsanime.wordpress.com/2006/11/26/to-heart/ |title= To Heart | Date=November 26, 2006 |accessdate 2008-02-07 | quote= Genres: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life No. of Episodes: 13 ]
* "Tom's Diner", Suzanne Vega - (pop song) [cite web | title=Tom's Diner | url=http://www.vega.net/rustedpipe/toms_diner.htm | publisher=The Rusted Pipe Web Site | accessdate=2008-06-05 | quote="Tom's Diner" was written in Tom's Restaurant, it's really about Tom's Restaurant, on 112th Street and Broadway in New York City, and it was really written from the point of view of my friend Brian, who is a photographer, and had made a comment to me one day that he felt that as a photographer, he saw his whole life through a pane of glass, and always felt like he was the witness to a lot of things, but was never really involved in them.]
* "The Traveller", Chris de Burgh - (pop song)Fact|date=January 2008
* "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō", Hitoshi Ashinano - (manga series)cite web | title=A Comics Reader's Guide to Manga Scanlations | author=Dirk Deppey | url=http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=430&Itemid=70&limit=1&limitstart=2 | publisher=The Comics Journal |date=2006-10-13 | accessdate=2007-12-16 | quote=The few actual incidents that occur in this series -- Alpha getting hit by lightning and recuperating in a hospital, or running out of coffee beans and riding her scooter to Yokohama to get more -- punctuate a calm, endless sea of chapters wherein she does little more than sit by the window, drink coffee, wander the fields with her camera, visit the beach with friends or pay leisurely visits to the town's few remaining human citizens.]
* "Yotsuba&!", Kiyohiko Azuma - (manga series)cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/right-turn-only/2007-11-27 | title=RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Society for the Study of Really Awesome Endings | author=Carlo Santos | publisher=Anime News Network |date=2007-11-27 | accessdate=2007-12-16 | quote=Such is the way of Kiyohiko Azuma's slice-of-life storytelling, which was mastered within the four-panel pillars of "Azumanga Daioh" but perfected only in the full-chapter format that "Yotsuba&!" brings.]
* "Z's Metro Tales" - (webcomic)Fact|date=January 2008

See also

* In medias res
* Mimesis
* Quotidian
* Vignette (literature)

References

External links

; Texts
* [http://www.web-books.com/classics/poetry/anthology/DeLaMare/Listeners.htm "The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare (complete text of the poem)]
* [http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/london/261/ "The Sun-Dog Trail" by Jack London (complete short story)]

; Criticism
* [http://www.wahlbrinck.de/night-on-earth-review.htm "Night on Earth": The New York episode as a slice of life story]
* [http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_joyce_dublinersunabridged.html Green Man review of "Dubliners"]