Reverse chronology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | {{Template}} | + | {{Template}}'''Reverse chronology''' is a method of story-telling whereby the [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] is revealed in reverse order. |
| - | Related: Time's Arrow (1991) - Martin Amis - Irréversible (2002) - Gaspar Noé - narratology - non linearity - fragmentation - time | + | |
| - | While the 1991 Time's Arrow is very much the best-known example of reverse chronology literature, the idea had been explored previously by Philip K. Dick's 1967 Counter-Clock World. [Oct 2006] | + | In a story employing this technique, the first [[Scene (fiction)|scene]] shown is actually the conclusion to the plot. Once that scene ends, the penultimate scene is shown, and so on, so that the final scene the viewer sees is the first chronologically. |
| - | Definition | + | Many stories employ [[flashback (literary technique)|flashback]], showing prior events, but whereas the scene order of most conventional films is A-B-C-etc, a film in reverse chronology goes Z-Y-X-etc. |
| - | Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order. | + | As a hypothetical example, if the [[fairy tale]] ''[[Jack and the Beanstalk]]'' were told using reverse chronology, the opening scene would depict Jack chopping the beanstalk down and killing the giant. The next scene would feature Jack being discovered by the giant and climbing down the beanstalk in fear of his life. Later, we would see Jack running into the man with the infamous magic beans, then, at the end of the film, being sent off by his mother to sell the cow. |
| - | In a story employing this technique, the first scene shown is actually the conclusion to the plot. Once that scene ends, the penultimate scene is shown, and so on, so that the final scene the viewer sees is the first chronologically. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_chronology [Aug 2006] | + | Related: Time's Arrow (1991) - Martin Amis - Irréversible (2002) - Gaspar Noé - narratology - non linearity - fragmentation - time |
| - | Reverse chronology and literature | + | |
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| + | While the 1991 Time's Arrow is very much the best-known example of reverse chronology literature, the idea had been explored previously by Philip K. Dick's 1967 Counter-Clock World. [Oct 2006] | ||
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| + | == Reverse chronology and literature == | ||
| I can think of a novel that uses reverse chronology: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis, which I thought was pretty brilliant. And then their came Memento and Irréversible, which did the same for cinema, but not as powerfully as Amis did. | I can think of a novel that uses reverse chronology: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis, which I thought was pretty brilliant. And then their came Memento and Irréversible, which did the same for cinema, but not as powerfully as Amis did. | ||
| - | Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_chronology [Jun 2006] | + | Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order. |
| - | The House in Paris (1935) – Elizabeth Bowen | + | |
| + | == The House in Paris (1935) – Elizabeth Bowen == | ||
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| Elizabeth Bowen, the female flâneur of modernism wrote The House in Paris in reverse chronology from the middle onwards. [Aug 2006] | Elizabeth Bowen, the female flâneur of modernism wrote The House in Paris in reverse chronology from the middle onwards. [Aug 2006] | ||
| - | In medias res | + | |
| + | == In medias res == | ||
| + | |||
| In medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things") is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo or ab initio). The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relating past events to each other. Classical works such as Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad begin in the middle of the story. | In medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things") is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo or ab initio). The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relating past events to each other. Classical works such as Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad begin in the middle of the story. | ||
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In a story employing this technique, the first scene shown is actually the conclusion to the plot. Once that scene ends, the penultimate scene is shown, and so on, so that the final scene the viewer sees is the first chronologically.
Many stories employ flashback, showing prior events, but whereas the scene order of most conventional films is A-B-C-etc, a film in reverse chronology goes Z-Y-X-etc.
As a hypothetical example, if the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk were told using reverse chronology, the opening scene would depict Jack chopping the beanstalk down and killing the giant. The next scene would feature Jack being discovered by the giant and climbing down the beanstalk in fear of his life. Later, we would see Jack running into the man with the infamous magic beans, then, at the end of the film, being sent off by his mother to sell the cow.
Related: Time's Arrow (1991) - Martin Amis - Irréversible (2002) - Gaspar Noé - narratology - non linearity - fragmentation - time
While the 1991 Time's Arrow is very much the best-known example of reverse chronology literature, the idea had been explored previously by Philip K. Dick's 1967 Counter-Clock World. [Oct 2006]
Reverse chronology and literature
I can think of a novel that uses reverse chronology: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis, which I thought was pretty brilliant. And then their came Memento and Irréversible, which did the same for cinema, but not as powerfully as Amis did.
Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order.
The House in Paris (1935) – Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen, the female flâneur of modernism wrote The House in Paris in reverse chronology from the middle onwards. [Aug 2006]
In medias res
In medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things") is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo or ab initio). The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relating past events to each other. Classical works such as Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad begin in the middle of the story.
The terms in medias res and ab ovo (literally "from the egg") both come from the Roman poet Horace's Ars Poetica ("Art of poetry"), lines 147-148, where he describes his ideal for an epic poet:
Nor does he begin the Trojan War from the double egg, but always he hurries to the action, and snatches the listener into the middle of things ...
The "double egg" is a reference to the origin of the Trojan War with the legendary birth of Helen and Clytemnestra from an egg laid by their mother, Leda, after she was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan.
The narrative method has proven very popular throughout the ages, including frequent use in Modernist literature, including Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res [Aug 2006]
