Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories, and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often utilizes metafiction in his works and constructs stories within stories. His best known work is the novel Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (1991). It has been translated into 60 languages; there are over 40 million copies in print.
Gaarder in 2017
LiteratureXchange Festival Aarhus 2023 Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story. Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes called nested stories. A play may have a brief play within it, such as in Shakespeare's play Hamlet; a film may show the characters watching a short film; or a novel may contain a short story within the novel. A story within a story can be used in all types of narration including poems, and songs.
In the Bible, Jacob has a dream about a ladder to heaven. Having a character have a dream is a common way to add an inner story within a larger story. (Painting by William Blake, 1805)
Cervantes finds the manuscript with the further adventures of Don Quixote. Illustration by Ricardo Balaca for the 1880 edition.