In Medias Res - Literary History

Literary History

Likely original to the oral tradition, the narrative technique of beginning a story in medias res is a stylistic convention of epic poetry, the exemplar in Western literature being the Iliad (9th c. BC) and the Odyssey (9th c. BC), by Homer. Likewise, the technique features in the Indian Mahābhārata (ca. 8th c. BC – ca. AD 4th c.); the Portuguese The Lusiads (1572); the Spanish Cantar de Mio Cid (ca. 14th c.); the German Nibelungenlied (12th c.); and the stories "Sinbad the Sailor" and "The Three Apples" from the One Thousand and One Nights (ca. 9th c.).

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, medias in res narration further continued in early modern poetry with 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. Well-known films that employ it include The Godfather and Raging Bull.

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.