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Concept
Mise en abyme (in literature and other media)
Summary
Mise en abyme (also mise-en-abîme, French "put in the abyss", [miːz ɒn əˈbɪːm]) is a transgeneric and transmedial technique that can occur in any literary genre, in comics, film, painting or other media. It is a form of similarity and/or repetition, and hence a variant of self-reference. Mise en abyme presupposes at least two hierarchically different levels. A subordinate level 'mirrors' content or formal elements of a primary level.
'Mirroring' can mean repetition, similarity or even, to a certain extent, contrast. The elements thus ‘mirrored’ can refer to form (e.g. a painting within a painting) or content (e.g. a theme occurring on different levels).
Mise en abyme can be differentiated according to its quantitative, qualitative and functional features. For instance, ‘mirroring’ can occur once, several times (on a lower and yet on a lower and so on level) or (theoretically) an infinite number of times (as in the reflection of an object between two mirrors, which creates the impression of a visual abyss). Further, mise en abyme can either be partial or complete (i.e. mirror part or all of the upper level) and either probable, improbable or paradoxical. It can contribute to the understanding of a work, or lay bare its artificiality.
The term mise en abyme derives from heraldry. It describes the appearance of a smaller shield in the center of a larger one; see for example the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom (in the form used between 1801 and 1837). André Gide, in an 1893 entry into his journal, was the first to write about mise en abyme in connection with describing self-reflexive embeddings in various forms of art.
The term enters the lexicon through Claude-Edmonde Magny who described the aesthetic effects of the device. Jean Ricardou developed the concept further by outlining some of its functions. On the one hand it may confuse and disrupt the work in question, but on the other hand it may enhance understanding e.g. by pointing out the work's true meaning or intention.
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