NarratologyAdvanced
Analepsis
A backward movement in narrative time.
Principle
A flashback should alter the present, not merely explain it.
Takeaways
- Analepsis retrieves earlier material from a later narrative moment.
- It can reveal cause, trauma, motive, or contradiction.
- Poorly placed analepsis stalls present-tense pressure.
Overview
Analepsis is the technical term for flashback or retrospective narration. It changes the reader's understanding of the present by inserting prior events into the current sequence of telling.
Examples
- A trial scene pauses for the childhood event that made testimony impossible.
- A present argument is reinterpreted by a memory from the marriage's first week.