flashforward

A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future. They may also reveal significant parts of the story that have not yet occurred, but soon will in greater detail. It is similar to foreshadowing, in which future events are not shown but rather implicitly hinted at. It is also similar to an ellipsis, which takes the narrative forward and is intended to skim over boring or uninteresting details, for example the aging of a character. It is primarily a postmodern narrative device, named by analogy to the more traditional flashback, which reveals events that occurred in the past. Literature An early example of prolepsis which predates the postmodern period is Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, in which the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the future following his death. The subsequent events of the story imply that this future will be averted by this foreknowledge. Terry Brooks' Word & Void series features a protagonist who, when he sleeps, moves forward and backward through time to before and after a great cataclysm. This is both analepsis and prolepsis. Muriel Spark makes extensive use of prolepsis in her 1961 novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.