Vol. 55 (2026)

Literary Studies

On the Functions of the Figure of Narrative Metalepsis in the Narratives of “Old Writing”

Published:

2026-07-06

https://doi.org/10.31034/055.2026.04

Author

Alexander Efimenko

Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia

Keywords

metalepsis analepsis prolepsis transition from one diegetic line to another exegesis

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Efimenko, A. (2026). On the Functions of the Figure of Narrative Metalepsis in the Narratives of “Old Writing”. Slavica, 55. https://doi.org/10.31034/055.2026.04

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Abstract

This article, based on the works of Russian writers of the “old school,” analyses the functions of the narrative figure of metalepsis. The article points out the differences between the types of metalepsis: rhetorical and ontological. It then provides an overview of the typology of metalepsis functions, which are divided into diegetic and exegetical. The former includes the functions of introducing the figure of analepsis and the figure of prolepsis into the narrative, as well as the function of transitioning from one diegetic line to another. A separate function of metalepsis is the exegetical function, which is common to both types of metalepsis.

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