The term incident has several synonyms, such as adventure, adventure, event or incident. Thus, an incident is a circumstance normally related to a singular and unusual event, such as a trip to a remote place, an unexpected event, a series of coincidences, a change in plans or a rough 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 recounts what happens to the characters and to emphasize the plot it is necessary for things to happen suddenly and unexpectedly and, in this sense, an incident is an unforeseen change in the course of events.
In the history of literature the adventures of Ulysses, 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 historical novel, in romantic stories, in adventure novels or in biographies. In other genres, incidents have a secondary value or are non-existent, as in the philosophical essay or literary criticism. In short, it 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, but rather a series of striking and curious facts that, by their nature, attract attention. Thus, if someone says "I'm going to tell you about the incidents of my last trip" the one who is listening 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 adventures come from the Greek peripateia, which in its original sense referred to the sudden changes that occurred 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
