analepsis
- noun
- /ˌænəˈlɛp.sɪs/
- Literature
:
analepsis
- In the film, the director uses analepsis to reveal the protagonist's childhood memories, adding depth to her character.
Examples
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Trying to arrange a sensible chronology to understand Paul’s racial identity, the novel’s characters strategically use prolepsis and analepsis.
Academic text (2018) -
In the discourse, iterations can occur within the narrator's discourse, such as prolepsis and analepsis, between characters' and narrator's discourses, and between characters' discourses.
Academic text (2004) -
If a subjective analepsis is a nonnarrated metadiegetic narrative, then we have a contradiction in terms.
Academic text (1996) -
The author skillfully employs analepsis in the story, bringing past events to life and helping the reader understand the character's motivations.
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Through analepsis, the narrative shifts back in time to explain why the hero made his fateful decision.
Synonyms
41
4.5
A scene in a film or book that shows an earlier time
How Extensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
analepsis = ana + lepsis
Although analyzable into Greek combining forms ('ana-' + 'lepsis'), these parts are not familiar or productive English morphemes, so an average B1 learner cannot derive the meaning 'flashback' from them.
Etymology
Analepsis comes from the Greek parts ana- 'back' and -lepsis 'a taking', so it literally means a 'taking back'. So, analepsis is another word for a flashback in a story — it takes the reader back to an earlier event.