see also the example of intratextuality in Myst
A specific textual technique in text and
hypertext which produces a further narrative
dimension is mise en abîme. It is a device of mirroring a content
or a specific textual structure to different points in texts and thus creates
different levels of textuality. The term originates
from heraldry. Shields in the middle ages used to be decorated with coats
of arms depicting the knight's personal heraldry. Thereby the spatial impression
of depth or even of an abyss (French: "abîme") is created. (Such
a semiotic technique was picked up in postmodern literature). It leads
to a multiplication of a topic in a spatial and not in a temporal mode.
It is a form of telling and showing at the same time, a kind of repetition
of same entities, a reflexive structuration, which results in a front
to back dimensionality, thus creating a three-dimensional narrative
space.
see also the example of intratextuality in Myst