In medias res - wikipedia In medias res For other uses, see In Medias Res ( disambiguation ). A narrative work beginning in medias res ( Classical Latin : ( ɪn mɛdiaːs reːs ), lit. `` into the middle things '' ) opens in the midst of action ( cf. ab ovo, ab initio ). Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, either through dialogue, flashbacks or description of past events. For example, Hamlet begins after the death of Hamlet 's father. Characters make reference to King Hamlet 's death without the plot 's first establishment of said fact. Since the play focuses on Hamlet and the revenge itself more so than the motivation, Shakespeare utilizes in medias res to bypass superfluous exposition. Works that employ in medias res often, though not always, will subsequently use flashback and nonlinear narrative for exposition of earlier events in order to fill in the backstory. For example, in Homer 's Odyssey, we first learn about Odysseus 's journey when he is held captive on Calypso 's island. We then find out, in Books IX through XII, that the greater part of Odysseus 's journey precedes that moment in the narrative. On the other hand, Homer 's Iliad has relatively few flashbacks, although it opens in the thick of the Trojan War. Contents 1 First use of the phrase 2 Literary history 3 Cinematic history 4 See also 5 References 6 External links First use of the phrase The Roman lyric poet and satirist Horace ( 65 -- 8 BC ) first used the terms ab ōvō ( `` from the egg '' ) and in mediās rēs ( `` into the middle of things '' ) in his Ars poetica ( `` Poetic Arts '', c. 13 BC ), wherein lines 147 -- 149 describe the ideal epic poet : Nor does he begin the Trojan War from the egg, but always he hurries to the action, and snatches the listener into the middle of things... The `` egg '' reference is to the mythological origin of the Trojan War in the birth of Helen and Clytemnestra from the double egg laid by Leda following her seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan. Literary history Probably originated in oral tradition, the narrative technique of beginning a story in medias res is a stylistic convention of epic poetry, the exemplars in Western literature being the Iliad and the Odyssey ( both 7th century BC ), by Homer. Likewise, the technique features in the Indian Mahābhārata ( c. 8th century BC -- c. 4th century AD ). The classical - era poet Virgil ( Publius Vergilius Maro, 70 -- 19 BC ) continued this literary narrative technique in the Aeneid, which is part of the Greek literary tradition of imitating Homer. Later works featuring in medias res include the stories `` Sinbad the Sailor '' and `` The Three Apples '' from the One Thousand and One Nights ( c. 9th century ), the German Nibelungenlied ( 12th century ), the Spanish Cantar de Mio Cid ( c. 14th century ), the Italian Divine Comedy ( 1320 ) by Dante Alighieri, the Portuguese The Lusiads ( 1572 ) by Luís Vaz de Camões, Jerusalem Delivered ( 1581 ) by Torquato Tasso, Paradise Lost ( 1667 ) by John Milton, and generally in Modernist literature. Modern novelists known to extensively employ in medias res in conjunction with flashbacks include William Faulkner and Toni Morrison. Cinematic history It is typical for film noir to begin in medias res ; for example, a private detective will enter the plot already in progress. Crossfire ( 1947 ) opens with the murder of Joseph Samuels. As the police investigate the crime, the story behind the murder is told via flashbacks. Dead Reckoning ( 1947 ) opens with Humphrey Bogart as Rip Murdock on the run and attempting to hide in a Catholic church. Inside, the backstory is told in flashback as Murdock explains his situation to a priest. The technique has been used across genres, including dramas such as Through a Glass Darkly ( 1961 ), 81⁄2 ( 1963 ), Raging Bull ( 1980 ), and City of God ( 2002 ) ; crime thrillers such as Grievous Bodily Harm ( 1988 ), The Usual Suspects ( 1995 ), and Kill Bill Volume 2 ( 2004 ) ; horror films such as Firestarter ( 1984 ) ; action films such as many in the James Bond franchise ; and comedies such as Dr. Strangelove ( 1964 ). Many war films, such as The Thin Red Line ( 1998 ), also begin in medias res, with the protagonists already actively in combat and no prior domestic scenes leading up to the film 's events. Occasionally adaptations of source material may employ in medias res while the original version did not. For example, the film adaptation of the stage musical Camelot employed in medias res while the original Broadway version did not ( although revivals of the musical have ). Stanley Kubrick 's 1962 film adaptation of Lolita begins in medias res although the novel does not. Herman Wouk 's stage adaptation of his own novel The Caine Mutiny begins in medias res as it opens with the court - martial that occupies the final section of the novel, telling the earlier part of the story through flashbacks in court - room testimony. See also Reverse chronology Flashforward References Jump up ^ `` In medias res ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 31, 2013. Jump up ^ Horace. Ars poetica ( in Latin ). nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo ; / semper ad eventum festinat et in medias res / (... ) auditorem rapit ^ Jump up to : Murray, Christopher John ( 2004 ). Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760 - 1850. Taylor & Francis. p. 319. ISBN 1 - 57958 - 422 - 5 Jump up ^ Pinault, David ( 1992 ). Story - Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights. Brill Publishers. pp. 86 -- 94. ISBN 90 - 04 - 09530 - 6. Jump up ^ P. Raffa, Guy. The Complete Danteworlds : A Reader 's Guide to the Divine Comedy. University Of Chicago Press. p. 12. ISBN 978 - 0226702704. Jump up ^ Forman, Carol ( 1984 ). Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy : The Inferno. Barron 's Educational Series. p. 24. ISBN 0 - 7641 - 9107 - 1 Jump up ^ Knight, Deborah ( 2007 ). Conard, Mark T. ; Porfirio, Robert, eds. The Philosophy of Film Noir. University Press of Kentucky. p. 208. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8131 - 9181 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Mayer, Geoff ; McDonnell, Brian ( 2007 ). Encyclopedia of Film Noir. ABC - CLIO. pp. 146, 161. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 33306 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Miller, William Charles ( 1980 ). Screenwriting for Narrative Film and Television. Hastingshouse / Daytrips. p. 66. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8038 - 6773 - 4. Jump up ^ What is the term, In Medias Res ? Jump up ^ McFarlane, Brian ; Mayer, Geoff ( 1992 ). New Australian Cinema. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 38768 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Murfin, Ross C. ; Ray, Supryia M. ( 2009 ). The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Bedford / St. Martins. p. 245. ISBN 978 - 0 - 230 - 22330 - 1. Jump up ^ Chan, Kenneth ( 2009 ). Remade in Hollywood. Hong Kong University Press. p. 147. ISBN 978 - 962 - 209 - 056 - 9. Jump up ^ Muir, John Kenneth ( 2007 ). Horror Films of the 1980s. McFarland. pp. 135, 389. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7864 - 2821 - 2. Jump up ^ Donnelly, Kevin J. ( 2001 ). Film Music. Edinburgh University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7486 - 1288 - 8. Jump up ^ Glassmeyer, Danielle ( 2009 ). `` Ridley Scott 's Epics : Gender of Violence ''. In Detora, Lisa M. wHeroes of Film, Comics and American Culture. McFarland. pp. 297 -- 8. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7864 - 3827 - 3. External links The dictionary definition of in medias res at Wiktionary Look up in, medias, or res in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Narrative Character Antagonist Antihero Archenemy Character arc Characterization Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character Foil Protagonist Stock character Supporting character Tritagonist Narrator Tragic hero Plot Action Backstory Cliché Climax Cliffhanger Conflict Deus ex machina Dialogue Dramatic structure Exposition Eucatastrophe Foreshadowing Flashback Flashforward Frame story In medias res Pace Plot device Plot twist Poetic justice Reveal Self - fulfilling prophecy Subplot Trope Kishōtenketsu Setting Backstory Utopia Dystopia Alternate history Fictional location city country universe Theme Leitmotif Metaphor Moral Motif Irony Style Allegory Bathos Diction Figure of speech Imagery Narrative techniques Narration Stylistic device Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone Mode Mood Structure Linear narrative Nonlinear narrative films television series Types of fiction with multiple endings Form Epic Fable Fabliau Fairy tale Folktale Flash fiction Legend Novella Novel Parable Play Poem Screenplay Short story Genre Action fiction Adventure Comic Crime Docufiction Epistolary Erotic Fiction Fantasy Gothic Historical Horror Magic realism Mystery Nautical Paranoid Philosophical Picaresque Political Psychological Romance Saga Satire Science Speculative Superhero Thriller Urban Western List of writing genres Narration First - person Multiple narrators Stream of consciousness Stream of unconsciousness Unreliable Tense Past Present Future Related Audience Author Creative nonfiction Fiction writing Literary theory Literary science Narratology Monomyth Rhetoric Screenwriting Storytelling Literature portal Homer 's Odyssey ( 8th century BC ) Characters Characters House of Odysseus Penelope ( wife ) Telemachus ( son ) Anticlea ( mother ) Laërtes ( father ) Autolycus ( grandfather ) Eurycleia ( chief servant ) Mentor ( advisor ) Phemius ( musician ) Argos ( pet - dog ) Monarchs and royals Alcinous of Phaeacia Arete of Phaeacia Nestor of Pylos Menelaus of Sparta Princess Nausicaa of Phaeacia Agamemnon of Mycenae Gods Athena Apollo Artemis Atlas Calypso Circe Hermes Poseidon Zeus Oceanus Others Achilles Aeolus Ajax Amphimedon Anticlus Antiphates Antiphus Aretus Cyclopes Demodocus Demoptolemus Deucalion Dolius Echephron Echetus Elpenor Eumaeus Eupeithes Euryalus Eurylochus Halitherses Helen Heracles Idomeneus Irus Kikonians Laodamas Laestrygones Medon Melantho Mentes Old Man of the Sea Peisistratus Perimedes Perseus Philoetius Polites Polydamna Polyphemus Scylla and Charybdis Sirens Stratichus Tiresias Theoclymenus Thrasymedes Suitors Agelaus Amphinomus Antinous Ctesippus Eurymachus Leodes Melanthius Odyssean gods Athena Poseidon Calypso Circe Ino Hermes Zeus Heracles Films L'Odissea ( 1911 Italian ) Ulysses ( 1954 Italian ) Ulysses ' Gaze ( 1995 Greek ) O Brother, Where Art Thou ? ( 2000 ) Keyhole ( 2012 ) TV L'Odissea ( 1968 ) Ulysses 31 ( 1981 Japanese anime ) The Odyssey ( 1997 ) Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists ( 2007 ) Star Trek : Odyssey ( 2007 ) Literature True History ( 2nd century AD ) Les Aventures de Télémaque ( 1699 ) The World 's Desire ( 1890 ) Ulysses ( 1922 ) The Human Comedy ( 1943 ) Big Fish : A Novel of Mythic Proportions ( 1998 ) Trojan Odyssey ( 2003 ) The Penelopiad ( 2005 ) The Lost Books of the Odyssey ( 2010 ) Poems Ulysses ( 1842 ) The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel ( 1938 ) The Cantos ( 1962 ) Pagan Operetta ( 1998 ) Stage Current Nobody ( play ) Cyclops ( play ) Ithaka ( play ) Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ( opera ) The Golden Apple ( musical ) Glam Slam Ulysses ( musical ) Home Sweet Homer ( musical ) Song `` Tales of Brave Ulysses '' ( song ) `` The Odyssey '' ( song ) The Odyssey ( symphony ) Study Homeric scholarship Homeric Question Chorizontes Geography of the Odyssey Historicity of the Homer epics Odysseus Unbound Homer 's Ithaca Rediscovering Homer The Baltic Origins of Homer 's Epic Tales `` Odysseus ' scar '' Hermoniakos ' Iliad Hysteron proteron Epithets in Homer Dactylic hexameter Translations `` On First Looking into Chapman 's Homer '' On Translating Homer Video games Odyssey : The Search for Ulysses Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey Phrases In medias res Between Scylla and Charybdis Related Telemachy Nekyia Trojan Horse Suitors of Penelope The Odyssey Old Man of the Sea The Apotheosis of Homer Contempt Cold Mountain ( novel ) Cold Mountain ( film ) Homer 's Daughter Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=In_medias_res&oldid=801932467 '' Categories : Latin literary phrases Literary concepts Narratology Narrative techniques Hidden categories : CS1 Latin - language sources ( la ) All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Galego Hrvatski Italiano עברית Latina Latviešu Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Svenska 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 22 September 2017, at 21 : 19. 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Question: starting a story in the middle of the action
Answer: in medias res