A frame story is the literary technique and narrative structure in which an opening narrative introduces either a more emphasized second narrative or a set of shorter tales. The frame story leads read
One of the earliest frame stories is in the Odyssey, which begins with Odysseus telling stories to King Alcinous on the island of Scheria. Painting of Odysseus at the Court of Alcinous by Francesco Hayez, 1814–1815
One Thousand and One Nights frames many stories with a single narrator, Shahrazad; embedded within it are further framed sets of tales, such as those of Sindbad the Sailor. Illustration Sindbad the sailor and Ali Baba and the forty thieves by William Strang, 1896
The Return of Rip Van Winkle, painting by John Quidor, 1849
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a narrative device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story. Multiple layers of stories within s
Frame story
…frame story leads readers from a first story into one or more other in-depth stories within it. In other words, a frame story is the use of one or more stories-within-a-story across the majority of a narrative's content, where the inner story is the main one: the one with the most detail. The frame story may be used to inform…
In the Bible, Jacob has a dream about a ladder to heaven. Having a character dream is a common device for embedding one narrative or scene within another. (Painting by William Blake, 1805)
Cervantes finds the manuscript with the further adventures of Don Quixote. Illustration by Ricardo Balaca for the 1880 edition.