Tag: in medias res 5522y

In medias res, also medias in res (Latin for "into the midst of affairs (lit. into mid-affairs)"), refers to a literary and artistic technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning. It is generally a plot-driven concept rather than a character-driven one; though characters are commonly used to provide the backstory. The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relating past events to each other.

Probably originating from an oral tradition, the technique is a convention of epic poetry, one of the earliest and most prominent examples in Western literature being Homer's Odyssey and Iliad. Virgil's Aeneid began the tradition in literature of imitating Homer, continued in Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, John Milton's Paradise Lost and "Inferno" from Dante's Divine Comedy. George Lucas's Star Wars saga was told using in medias res.