Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent.
- n. A pasticcio of incongruous parts; a hodgepodge: "In . . . a city of splendid Victorian architecture . . . there is a rather pointless pastiche of Dickensian London down on the waterfront” ( Economist).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as pasticcio.
Wiktionary
- n. A work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
- n. A musical medley, typically quoting other works.
- n. An incongruous mixture; a hodgepodge.
- n. A postmodern playwriting technique that fuses a variety of styles, genres, and story lines to create a new form.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work
- n. a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources
Etymologies
- French, from Italian pasticcio; see pasticcio.
Examples
“All these characters, whom I love reading about, esp. in pastiche, must be part of this Secret History.”
Book Cover Smackdown! 'Ender's Game' vs. 'Crossovers 2' vs. 'The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard'
“Even as artistic theory values repetition and familiarity in pastiche and other ways, law is not keeping up.”
“A pastel color pastiche is offset by the presence of seemingly endless light-grade wooden construction/renovation.”
“What I usually say about pastiche is that I'm very impressed by people who can emulate other writers to a tee, because I find it difficult enough just to write like myself.”
An Amazon.com Books Blog featuring news, reviews, interviews and guest author blogs.
“Media Watch: TCM played THREE versions of The Wizard of Oz over the holiday -- the 1910 tableaux with Bebe Daniels when she was a child, an odd racist pastiche from the mid-20's with Oliver Hardy -- featuring Dorothy as a purse-lipped flapper princess, plus MGM's classic from 1939.”
“This sort of humorous pastiche is common, and is rarely resented or resisted by the original artists.”
“Block's Nero Wolfe pastiche is much better than the official posthumous Nero Wolfe novels written by Robert Goldborough, which are unreadable (and which should not be read so as not to destroy the wonderfulness of the Rex Stout originals).”
“The anthology includes I Love Paree, a whacky Heinlein pastiche that I co-wrote with the brilliant writer Michael Skeet (fittingly enough, we inaugurated the collaboration at Judith Merril's wake at the Bamboo Club), which has been out of print for a couple of years now.”
“Having started in pastiche chic-lit style, Miranda’s finding a much deeper, darker and funnier vein to explore – she could hit the motherlode if she keeps at it.”
“They neither read like Obama (a technique satirists call pastiche) nor a comic exaggeration of Obama (a method they call parody).”
The Huffington Post: Chris Kelly: Laura Ingraham's New Book Could Be Better
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pastiche’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1073 more...
-
Gesundheit
Words that sound like sneezes
zucchini, zoology, wysiwyg, woodchuck, withhold, wichita, vacuum, twelfth, syzygy, synchronous, swatch, supersede and 120 more...
-
January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
-
cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
-
Resonant words
conflagration, cascando, fianchetto, incarnadine, oubliette, colophon, hegemony, omertà, cavalier, scrivener, armistice, pastiche
-
I didn't know there was a word for that!
interdigitate, aspheric, benthos, reptation, pastiche, pandiculate, agelast, obdormition, dysania, armscye, phosphene, etiolation and 57 more...
-
There's a word for it
catkin, pastiche, badonkadonk, biome, omphaloscopy, pogonophobia, reptation, anathema, xyst, commodify, commoditize, monetize and 46 more...
-
mots justes
No true synonyms, no other word will do.
dysphemism, nyehre, conflate, onomatopœic, galumph, zeitgeist, mercenary, theomeny, git, snarky, sass, smarmy and 43 more...
-
Culture Jamming
appropriate, subvertise, adbust, detournement, carnivalesque, remix, mashup, critical, protest, subvertisement, adbusting, disrupt and 45 more...
-
xulilux's list
leviathan, destitute, iapetus, caesura, ineffable, eschew, phosphene, fungible, antediluvian, nomenclature, mottle, europa and 84 more...
-
Rhinestone Cowboy
sionnach Personally, I agree with she/her on this one; pastiche has too many inescapable pejorative connotations for me ever to consider it a positive designation. Instead of hodge-podge, how about salmagundi? Or the ever-pleasing gallimaufry? Jun 3, 2011
Nathon Hay Growing up, my mother called a dinner of leftovers "hodge podge". I hate the sound of that. Hodge podge does not sound tasty. It sounds gross. My wife discovered pastiche, so when we have a dinner of miscellaneous leftovers, we have "pastiche". Mmmmm. Delish. Jun 2, 2011
nahiku888 only heard this word in reference to films --- by a so called expert ( He was a prof at USC film school ) ...and when no one in the audience quite got the definition correct, he made a couple sarcastic remarks - needless to say THIS did not endear him to our small community which is faaarrrr from Hollywood. Jun 21, 2009
she It's strange seeing this word celebrated — unlike pasticcio, I've never seen pastiche as a happy synonym for parody, pasquinade, motley, medley, potpourri, etc., and WeirdNet's last definition is just dead wrong — pastiche as an adjective implies, to me, the highly derogatory "insipid, derivative, counterfeit.." — Pasticheur is a snooty term for a derivative artist or writer (The word screams "inferiority!"); it's a nasty accusation, not an innocuous appellation. Like the creative equivalent of calling someone a slut.
Of course, this is only my impression, and you'll use the word however you damn well please, but I hope this serves as at least a marginally useful description of what kind of picture the word may paint? Aug 12, 2008
misterpolly Its Italian equivalent "pasticcio" is also a great sounder. It can be a mess/trouble, the musical composition and a dish made up of whatever is available (left-overs)
Dec 10, 2007
tankexmortis Not just a great-sounding word, I love the genre too. Jan 17, 2007