This rhetorical function of narrative was recognized by Aristotle.366 He used the Greek term mimesis (poorly translated as “imitation” or “representation”) to describe the relationship between story and life. One commentator explains the term admirably: Mimesis may be seen . . . as an imaginative redescription which captures what Aristotle called the “essence” . . . of our lives. Mimesis is not about idealist escapism or servile realism. It is a pathway to the disclosure of the inherent “universals” of existence that makes up human truth . . . Far from being a passive copy of reality, mimesis
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