Etymology and Meanings of Literary Device In Medias Res
A classical Latin term, in medias res, is mostly used for literary writings. In English, it literally means “in the middle of things.” It is often compared with ab oyo which means to start from the beginning, or the origin, or the egg. Both terms are compared with each other when writing a piece of literature.
Definition of Literary Device In Medias Res
In literature, in medias res is defined as a work of literature that starts the main narrative or the main plot from the middle and not from the beginning. The main exposition of the plot is left to be started later when the middle is filled with flashbacks, reminisces, events, and frame stories.
Common Examples of Literary Device In Medias Res
- Hamlet starts with the death of King Hamlet when Horatio, Hamlet, and their two sentinels are on the outposts at night. Shakespeare has used in medias res in Hamlet.
- Homer has used this device in the Odyssey as Odysseus starts his narrative when he is present in the court of the King of Phoenicia
- Milton starts Paradise Lost in the middle when Satan is preparing his companions for rebellion.
- Dante starts his famous epic, Divine Comedy, using in medias res.
Literary Examples of In Medias Res
Example # 1
From The Iliad by Homer
Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus’ agger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on hitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men-carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
Begin it when the two men first contending
broke with one another-
the Lord Marshal Agamemnon.
Atreus’ son, and Prince Akhilleus.
These are the first ten lines of The Iliad translated by Robert Fitzgerald. These lines show that Homer has started from the events of the Trojan War when Achilles is in the middle of the war. He terms it the will of Zeus, the Lord of Mount Olympus. The Greeks and the Trojans are fighting with each other. In other words, he has placed the readers in medias res instead of starting his epic from the very beginning of the life of Achilles.
Example # 2
From One Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
They’re out there. Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them. They’re mopping when I come out the dorm, all three of them sulky and hating everything, the time of day, the place they’re at here, the people they got to work around. When they hate like this, better if they don’t see me.
This passage occurs in the novel of Ken Kesey, One Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest, in which he presents the story of Bromden known as the chief in the psychological hospital. This passage shows that the story has already taken place which means that it now starts in medias res and after that Bromden tells it in flashbacks.
Example # 3
From The Stranger by Albert Camus
Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. The old people’s home is at Marengo, about eighty kilometres from Algiers, I’ll take the two o’clock bus and get there in the afternoon. That way I can be there for the vigil and come back tomorrow night. I asked my boss for two days off and there was no way he was going to refuse me with an excuse like that.
This passage occurs in the novel of Albert Camus, The Stranger. Meursault narrates the death of his mother but not where he lives and where he has come from. Although these details are also not given in the novel which means that it starts in medias res, it does not show the complete usage of this term. The reason is that the story captures the rest of the incidents from this point onward yet it does not present them in chronological order. Therefore, it is safe to say that it is the use of in medias res that Camus has demonstrated here.
Example # 4
From The Odyssey by Homer
All the other Greeks
who had survived the brutal sack of Troy
sailed safely home to their own wives—except
this man alone. Calypso, a great goddess,
had trapped him in her cave; she wanted him
to be her husband. When the year rolled round
in which the gods decreed he should go home
to Ithaca, his troubles still went on.
The man was friendless. All the gods took pity,
except Poseidon’s anger never ended
until Odysseus was back at home.
These lines occur in the beginning of the epic, the Odyssey by Homer. Although every other epic starts with an invocation to Muse, the next lines tell the war of Troy and how Odysseus, the Greek hero, is going to start his homeward journey which means that Homer has employed in medias res like The Iliad. The reason is that his story does not start with this war. It rather starts from his journey toward Troy which he recounts later in the court of Phoenicia.
Example # 5
From The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading. Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet.
This is the first passage of the novel by Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle. The story of her life starts with her watching her mother in the street in New York instead of her being a child. Therefore, this is a good use of in medias res that Walls has used in her autobiographical fiction.
How to Create In Medias Res
- In medias rest term is used in fiction, poetry, and prose. You need to pick up the most important or significant event, incident, or point of the story.
- Start the story from that event and then use a flashback or frame story to move back to the past.
- Link all the points, historical events, or incidents through a single motif.
- End the story on the endpoint already decided. See that in medias res is hooking the reader appropriately.
Benefits of Using In Medias Res
- It hooks the readers to read the rest of the story.
- It makes the readers take interest in the storyline and its events.
- It makes the readers emotionally responsive.
- It helps the readers to become imaginatively creative.
In Medias Res in Literary Theory
- In medias res is an important literary term. It is an integral part of fiction writing. Therefore, its role appears in narratives and narratology when the focuser and the narrator need to be determined.
- In medias res is also an integral part of formalism as fabula determines its use in the story.
- Although in medias res also used in postmodern novels and stories, it loses its significance as the narrator could insert any incident without giving due regard to its criticality or importance.
- Other than this, in medias res does not play any significant role in other theoretical perspectives until it receives specific attention in terms of terminology specifically used in narratology.
Suggested Readings
Bennett, Andrew, and Nicholas Royle. Literature, Criticism, and Theory. Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2004. Print.
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, 2020. Print. Cooren, François. “In Medias Res: Communication, Existence, And Materiality.” Communication Research and Practice 1.4 (2015): 307-321.
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