Frame Story

A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc.) is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it.

Read more about Frame Story:  Origins, A Set of Stories, Single Story, Use of Frame Stories

Famous quotes containing the words frame and/or story:

    Whenever the society is dissolved, it is certain the government of that society cannot remain ... that being as impossible, as for the frame of a house to subsist when the materials of it are scattered and dissipated by a whirlwind, or jumbled into a confused heap by an earthquake.
    John Locke (1632–1704)

    My story being done,
    She gave me for my pains a world of sighs;
    She swore, in faith ‘twas strange, ‘twas passing strange;
    ‘Twas pitiful, ‘twas wondrous pitiful.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)