WORD OF THE DAY: LEITMOTIF
noun | LYTE-moh-teef
What It Means
A leitmotif is a dominant recurring theme—something (such as a melody, an idea, or a phrase) repeated many times throughout a book, story, opera, etc.
// The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography.
Examples of LEITMOTIF
“[F. Scott] Fitzgerald considered his year and a half spent on The Vegetable a complete waste, but I disagree, for he followed it with a new novel written with all the economy and tight structure of a successful play—The Great Gatsby. Both The Vegetable and Gatsby shared the theme of the American Dream (first as a spoof for a comedy, finally as the leitmotif of a lyric novel). I don’t think there has ever been a more elusive, mysterious, intriguing character than Gatsby. He’s pure fiction—and pure Fitzgerald: the hopeful, romantic outsider looking in.” — Charles Scribner III, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing, 2023.
Merriam Webster Dictionary