"What is a Flashback?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

[@SWLF]

This video now includes Spanish as well as English subtitles. For a full list of dual-language videos in our series, please see the following site: liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/oregon-state-guide-english-literary-terms

[@Khatoon170]

Flashback is scene that takes place before story beings. Defined as interruption in present vivid memory set in past . Interrupts that chronological sequence from line action or ( present ) line of story to show reader scene unfolded in past . Flashback and flash forward in other ways in which narrative discourse. Story flashing back to earlier in story ( analepsis ) flashing forward. Types of flashback somatic and emotional. Starting flashback by telling readers memory , reveal backstory, and build tension. Flashbacks pull audience out of main story , create suspense by using past events to give audiences more information main characters. Flashbacks can influence stir up plot , dynamic layers to characters, reveal information.thank you for your wonderful educational literary channel.

[@timwhite794]

Thanks for giving me a deeper understanding of how flashback reveals character

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, TIM! Great to hear from you!

[@sarajameson3545]

these are always so interesting - so well crafted - to help people (students and others) understand techniques in writing. Thanks, Kristin!

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Sara!

[@tetzlaffjo]

Two questions: 1) does the story have any other flashbacks or events that show how he went from a soft-hearted boy in love with language to a critical jerk?; and 2) since you brought it up, are you going to do a video about the use of the word "literal"?

[@SWLF]

Thanks for the questions! The story doesn't include any other flashbacks, but clues as to Anders' transformation can be found (retroactively) in the cliched words that he mocks in his interactions with the people at the bank and the robbers. It seems that from that moment on the baseball field, he's been searching for similar surprising turns of phrase, something to recapture the feeling of surprise. His mockery suggests he never gets it... What does everyone else think? (Check out the comments section of our "Figurative Language" video for a funny philosophical discussion of literal vs figurative language!)

[@albertomarquez9324]

This is so great I'm grateful to have found it! Greetings form Colombia!

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Alberto! We're excited to see how the channel has grown far beyond our Oregon community! We're in the process of translating our videos into Spanish for our dual-language students, and if you'd like, you can follow the growth of that project here: liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/oregon-state-guide-english-literary-terms

[@albertomarquez9324]

@@SWLF Thank you for the answer. I'll be part of it!

[@miller707]

this helped a lot thanks!

[@SWLF]

Awesome! Thanks, Miller. We hope you enjoy the other videos in the series as well!

[@phm8462]

How do you distinguish a flashback from just a memory?

[@SWLF]

Great question, @phm8462! We'd say that a flashback typically moves the narrative time into the past--as if we were there, as if the past were happening now---while a memory is usually bracketed by the thoughts of a character in the present thinking back on some event in the past. There is more of a sense of immediacy in the flashback, in other words.

[@GlennaAuxier]

The intrusive background music is just too much. How or why you should think this is an advantage is beyond me.

[@SWLF]

Thanks for the feedback! We're always looking to improve, and we'll be sure to keep the music down in later videos!

[@averysakurai3937]

What is the background music?

[@SWLF]

OSU licenses most of its music from De Wolfe. They are a great resource for background music to videos.

[@arleyexebio]

helpful

[@SWLF]

Thanks, Arley! We hope you enjoy the other videos in our series as well!

[@dineshsingh1905]

Nice

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Dinesh!

[@miller707]

u said ratatouille

[@kaidenvillaro2225]

You’re not pronouncing ratatouille the correct way

[@dialoguesenenfer7357]

Is this a madeleine-ratatouille causing the involuntary flashback? : D : D

[@SWLF]

Ha! It is almost as if Proust wrote it!

[@hemalakshmi4250]

Is this Analepsis? 🤔

[@SWLF]

Yes, in everyday conversations (well, everyday academic conversations about literature!) analepsis and flashback are used interchangeably.

[@hemalakshmi4250]

@@SWLF Thanks for explaining 👍😀

[@kbabb26]

Rat tat ouille