Plural of analepsis; literary instances where a narrative jumps backward in time to reveal past events.
From Greek analepsis, from ana- (back, again) + lepsis (a seizing, from lambanein, to take). The term describes 'taking back' the narrative to earlier moments.
Flashbacks are analepses! When a movie or book suddenly shows you what happened in the past, that's an analepsis. The term helps writers and critics talk precisely about time-shifting techniques.
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