Kairosis vs. Catharsis — What's the Difference?

Kairosis is the literary effect of fulfillment in time. This effect is normally associated with the epic/novel genre of literature, and can be understood by the analogy "as catharsis is to the dramatic, so kenosis is to the lyric, so kairosis is to the epic/novel." It is derived from Kermode's usage of kairos in literary aesthetics, and is part of an ongoing debate within literary aesthetics about the limitations of the rhetorical use of the term kairos.Kairosis is the feeling of integration experienced by the reader of the novel or epic form; it is experienced by the reader as the central protagonist's character and characterisation faces crisis and resolves itself into an explored and integrated personality.

Catharsis (from Greek κάθαρσις, katharsis, meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions—particularly pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics, comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator to the effect of catharsis on the body.

(Medicine) Purgation, especially for the digestive system.

A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.

A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.

A technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness.

The therapeutic result of this process; abreaction.

(drama) A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions, as through watching a dramatic production (especially a tragedy).

Any release of emotional tension to the same effect, more widely.

A purification or cleansing, especially emotional.

(psychology) A therapeutic technique to relieve tension by re-establishing the association of an emotion with the memory or idea of the event that first caused it, and then eliminating it by complete expression (called the abreaction).

(medicine) Purging of the digestive system.

A natural or artificial purgation of any passage, as of the mouth, bowels, etc.

The process of relieving an abnormal excitement by reëstablishing the association of the emotion with the memory or idea of the event that first caused it, and of eliminating it by complete expression (called the abreaction).

(psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions

Purging the body by the use of a cathartic to stimulate evacuation of the bowels