Narrative & Time
In Medias Res
Starting in the middle of the action, with backstory held for later. The reader arrives in a world already moving and must catch up by inference — which creates instant momentum.
Paradise Lost opening after the fall of the rebel angels, not before.
Don't confuse it with Analepsis. Analepsis (flashback) is how the deferred backstory later arrives; in medias res is the choice of entry point itself.
In the Reader — 2 excerpts
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. For Lucy had her work cut
Travels with
Devices that share a passage with in medias res most often — company reveals character.
Synecdoche 3 Passive Voice 3 Asyndeton 3 Litotes 3 Prolepsis 3 Parenthesis 3
The rest of the family
Prolepsis Analepsis Foreshadowing Free Indirect Discourse Stream of Consciousness Stichomythia