Dialogism and Figure-o-pia
Dialogism as a literary device was coined by Michael Bakhtin. It is a conversational tool in which there is dialogue between two individuals.
Jesus Christ before two thousand years used the practice as dialogues. Let’s take his encounter with the Samaritan woman. Samaritans were despised by the Jews and they would in no way have an encounter with them.
At the well Jesus Christ encountered a Samaritan woman and asked her water to drink. At this juncture, the Samaritan woman mildly chided Jesus saying that Jews are not allowed to have an experience with Samaritans.
Then Jesus replied: if you ask of me, I will give you water which will never make you thirst again.
Jesus’ reply is a classical example of figure-o-pia, and it’s a play of literal and figurative meanings. Thus figure-o-pia is a new literary device encompassing the figurative and the literal.