A genre defined by its structural device rather than by subject or mood: an opening, outer narrative that introduces and organizes a set of shorter tales nested within it. The device is among literature's oldest, with early instances in ancient Egyptian and Sanskrit literature, and its best-known example is One Thousand and One Nights, in which Scheherazade tells the Sultan Shahriyar a new tale each night to defer her own execution. This genre names a work whose defining generic character IS the frame-tale structure, organizing a whole collection of otherwise separate stories; it is distinct from the structural technique itself, catalogued separately in this atlas's Forms axis as The Frame Narrative, which a single novel or play can also borrow for one embedded story rather than adopt as its whole organizing genre. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Place of OriginAncient Egypt, in works such as the Papyrus Westcar, the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and The Eloquent Peasant; other early examples come from Indian literature (the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Panchatantra), with the form spreading west to become classics such as the One Thousand and One Nights, The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales. 1 Notable ExampleOne Thousand and One Nights, in which Scheherazade narrates a set of tales to the Sultan Shahriyar over many nights to postpone her execution. 1 Defining TraitAn outer, frame narrative that introduces and organizes a set of shorter tales nested within it, rather than the outer story standing alone. 1 Connections
Features Author
Second author on Frame Tale Collection, alongside Giovanni Boccaccio.
Source Wikipedia: Geoffrey Chaucer
Frame Tale Collection (minted same-day by w-depth-lit-genres-0829) carried zero live author edges before this lane.
Source Wikipedia: Giovanni Boccaccio
Source One Thousand and One Nights (Wikipedia)
Source The Canterbury Tales (Wikipedia)
Source The Decameron (Wikipedia)
Secondary classification alongside the Panchatantra's existing (associated) in-genre edge to Fable; the frame-tale structure is a distinct, well-documented facet of the same work.
Source Panchatantra (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Frame Story (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)lede
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.
lede, second sentence
The frame story leads readers from a first story into one or more other in-depth stories within it.
lede, Structure and Historical Origins
A typical frame story is One Thousand and One Nights, in which the character Scheherazade narrates a set of fairy tales to the Sultan Shahriyar over many nights.
Origins section
Some of the earliest frame stories are from ancient Egypt, including one in the Papyrus Westcar, the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, and The Eloquent Peasant. Other early examples are from Indian literature, including the Sanskrit epics Mahabharata, Ramayana, Panchatantra, Syntipas's The Seven Wise Masters, and the fable collections Hitopadesha and Vikram and The Vampire.
View the Source One Thousand and One Nights (Wikipedia)
Features Author: One Thousand and One Nights, IntroductionQuote, Features Author: One Thousand and One Nights, Introduction
In the frame story, the ruler Shahryar is told the tales by his wife Scheherazade, with one tale told over each night of storytelling.
Panchatantra (Wikipedia)
Features Author: The Panchatantra, Content sectionQuote, Features Author: The Panchatantra, Content section
Each part contains a main story, called the frame story, which in turn contains several embedded stories, as one character narrates a story to another.
Wikipedia: Giovanni Boccaccio
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Giovanni Boccaccio, Adult years (Biography) sectionQuote, Features Author: Giovanni Boccaccio, Adult years (Biography) section
the frame-story lieta brigata of three men and seven women
Wikipedia: Geoffrey Chaucer
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Geoffrey Chaucer, Lead section (Canterbury Tales claim)Quote, Features Author: Geoffrey Chaucer, Lead section (Canterbury Tales claim)
was an English poet, writer and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: The Canterbury Tales, Lead section, frame narrativeQuote, Features Author: The Canterbury Tales, Lead section, frame narrative
framed as tales told by a company of pilgrims traveling together from London to Canterbury Cathedral
The Decameron (Wikipedia)
WikipediaFeatures Author: The Decameron, Lead section, frame narrativeQuote, Features Author: The Decameron, Lead section, frame narrative
the resulting frame narrative, ranging from bawdy comedy to tragedy, is regarded as a masterpiece of early Italian prose
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