Literary Devices: Understanding Flashbacks

A literary device is a technique or structure used by authors to enhance meaning, progress a storyline, and enrich themes in their work.

A flashback is an interruption in the chronological order of a narrative to provide additional information or backstory.
Flashbacks reveal information about a character's past, disclosing personal secrets or inner conflict.
They can occur at any point in the work and may be of any duration and in any previous time sequence.
Flashbacks typically extend beyond simple narration of previous events to include vivid language about the setting and events.

Analepsis: the technical term for a flashback, referring to the interruption of the overall chronology to include a past event or situation.
Prolepsis: the opposite of analepsis, also known as a flashforward.
Dream sequence flashback: a character envisions or recalls previous events in a dream (e.g., Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë).
Straight break flashback: the narrator interrupts the chronological flow of the text to give additional backstory (e.g., Brandon Sanderson's writing).
Memory flashback: events or dialogue trigger a character to remember previous events (e.g., Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury).
Foreshadowing flashback: the information in the flashback creates suspense about a future event or gives away the ending (e.g., Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan).

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: flashbacks are used to create sympathy for characters and provide background information on relationships.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: a letter reveals information about Mr. Darcy's past, giving insight into characters and their motives.
Homer's Odyssey: flashbacks provide information about Odysseus prior to the opening of the text, en route home from Troy.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: a continuous flashback is used to relate events from the narrator's childhood.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: a letter is used to reveal important backstory about Dr. Mannette.