example of in medias res in the odyssey
In medias res Works that employ in medias res often, though not always, will subsequently use flashback and nonlinear narrative for exposition of earlier events in order to fill in the backstory. For example, in Homer's Odyssey, we first learn about Odysseus's journey when he is held captive on Calypso's island. We then find out, in Books IX through XII, that the greater part of Odysseus's journey precedes that moment in the narrative. On the other hand, Homer's Iliad has relatively few flashbacks, although it opens in the thick of the Trojan War.