Apastiche (/pæˈstiːʃ,pɑː-/;[1][2]French:[pastiʃ]ⓘ) is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture thatimitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists.[3] Unlikeparody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it.[4]
The wordpastiche is the French borrowing of the Italian nounpasticcio, which is apâté or pie-filling mixed from diverse ingredients.[3][5][6] Its first recorded use in this sense was in 1878.[7] Metaphorically,pastiche andpasticcio describe works that are either composed by several authors, or that incorporate stylistic elements of other artists' work. Pastiche is an example ofeclecticism in art.
Allusion is not pastiche. A literary allusion may refer to another work, but it does not reiterate it. Allusion requires the audience to share in the author's cultural knowledge.[8] Allusion and pastiche are both mechanisms ofintertextuality.
In literary usage, the term denotes aliterary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of another's style; although jocular, it is usually respectful. The word implies a lack of originality or coherence, an imitative jumble, but with the advent ofpostmodernism, pastiche has become positively construed as a deliberate, witty homage or playful imitation.[9]
For example, many stories featuringSherlock Holmes, originally penned byArthur Conan Doyle, have been written as pastiches since the author's time.[10][11]Ellery Queen andNero Wolfe are other popular subjects of mystery parodies and pastiches.[12][13]
A similar example of pastiche is the posthumous continuations of theRobert E. Howard stories, written by other writers without Howard's authorization. This includes theConan the Barbarian stories ofL. Sprague de Camp andLin Carter.David Lodge's novelThe British Museum Is Falling Down (1965) is a pastiche of works byJoyce,Kafka, andVirginia Woolf. In 1991,Alexandra Ripley wrote the novelScarlett, a pastiche ofGone with the Wind, in an unsuccessful attempt to have it recognized as acanonical sequel.
In 2017,John Banville publishedMrs. Osmond, a sequel toHenry James'sThe Portrait of a Lady, written in a style similar to that of James.[14] In 2018,Ben Schott publishedJeeves and the King of Clubs, an homage toP. G. Wodehouse's characterJeeves, with the blessing of the Wodehouse estate.[15]
Charles Rosen has characterizedMozart's various works in imitation ofBaroque style as pastiche, andEdvard Grieg'sHolberg Suite was written as a conscious homage to the music of an earlier age. Some ofPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's works, such as hisVariations on a Rococo Theme andSerenade for Strings, employ a poised "classical" form reminiscent of 18th-century composers such as Mozart (the composer whose work was his favorite).[16] Perhaps one of the best examples of pastiche in modern music is that ofGeorge Rochberg, who used the technique in his String Quartet No. 3 of 1972 and Music for the Magic Theater. Rochberg turned to pastiche fromserialism after the death of his son in 1963.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" byQueen is unusual as it is a pastiche in both senses of the word, as there are many distinct styles imitated in the song, all "hodge-podged" together to create one piece of music.[17] A similar earlier example is "Happiness is a Warm Gun" bythe Beatles. One can find musical "pastiches" throughout the work of the American composerFrank Zappa. Comedian/parodist"Weird Al" Yankovic has also recorded several songs that are pastiches of other popular recording artists, such asDevo ("Dare to Be Stupid"),Talking Heads ("Dog Eat Dog"),Rage Against the Machine ("I'll Sue Ya"), andThe Doors ("Craigslist"), though these so-called "style parodies" often walk the line between celebration (pastiche) and send-up (parody). AcclaimedAlternative rock bandWeen, known for their eclectic catalog of inspirations, have been argued to have created pastiches superior to their source inspirations.[18]
Apastiche Mass is a musicalMass where the constituent movements come from different Mass settings. Most often, this convention has been chosen for concert performances, particularly byearly-music ensembles. Masses are composed of movements:Kyrie,Gloria,Credo,Sanctus,Agnus Dei; for example, theMissa Solemnis byBeethoven and theMesse de Nostre Dame byGuillaume de Machaut. In a pastiche Mass, the performers may choose a Kyrie from one composer, and a Gloria from another; or choose a Kyrie from one setting of an individual composer, and a Gloria from another.
In musical theatre, pastiche is often an indispensable tool for evoking the sounds of a particular era for which a show is set. For the 1971 musicalFollies, a show about a reunion of performers from a musicalrevue set between the World Wars,Stephen Sondheim wrote over a dozen songs in the style of Broadway songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. Sondheim imitates not only the music of composers such asCole Porter,Irving Berlin,Jerome Kern, andGeorge Gershwin but also the lyrics of writers such asIra Gershwin,Dorothy Fields,Otto Harbach, andOscar Hammerstein II. For example, Sondheim notes that the torch song "Losing My Mind" sung in the show contains "near-stenciled rhythms and harmonies" from the Gershwins'"The Man I Love" and lyrics written in the style of Dorothy Fields.[19] Examples of musical pastiche also appear in other Sondheim shows includingGypsy,Saturday Night,Assassins, andAnyone Can Whistle.[20]
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Pastiche can also be acinematic device whereby filmmakers payhomage to another filmmaker's style and use ofcinematography, including camera angles,lighting, andmise en scène. A film's writer may also offer a pastiche based on the works of other writers (this is especially evident inhistorical films anddocumentaries but can be found innon-fictiondrama,comedy andhorror films as well). Italian directorSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the West is a pastiche of earlier AmericanWesterns. Another major filmmaker,Quentin Tarantino, often uses various plots, characteristics, and themes from many films to create his films, among them from the films of Sergio Leone, in effect creating a pastiche of a pastiche. Tarantino has openly stated that "I steal from every single movie ever made."[21] DirectorTodd Haynes' 2002 filmFar from Heaven was a conscious attempt to replicate a typicalDouglas Sirk melodrama—in particularAll That Heaven Allows.
In discussions ofurban planning, the term "pastiche" may describe developments as imitations of the building styles created by majorarchitects: with the implication that the derivative work is unoriginal and of little merit, and the term is generally attributed without reference to its urban context. Many 19th and 20th century European developments can in this way be described as pastiches, such as the work ofVincent Harris andEdwin Lutyens[22] who created early 20th centuryNeoclassical andNeo-Georgian architectural developments in Britain, or of later pastiche works based on the architecture of the modernistLudwig Mies van der Rohe and theBauhaus[23] movement. The term itself is not pejorative.[24]Alain de Botton described it as "an unconvincing reproduction of the styles of the past".[25]
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