Metalepsis
Meaning in literature, with examples
In literature, metalepsis means: A crossing between narrative levels, such as a storyteller entering the story being told.
In Turkish: anlatı düzeyleri arasında geçiş, metalepsis
How it is used
Use for impossible crossings between the act of telling and the world being told, not ordinary time shifts.
Example sentences
The novel uses metalepsis when the storyteller hands a key to the prisoner in her tale.
A person outside the embedded tale acts directly inside it.
We noticed metalepsis when the invented child erased a sentence from the writer's notebook.
The fictional figure crosses into the level where its story is composed.
Common collocations
- narrative metalepsis
- an instance of metalepsis
Related terms
More terms: Narration and Point of View
Practise with graded reading
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