Prologue

__//Prologue//__



**Definition::** I s an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information.


 * Origin::** From the Greek word pro meaning before and logos meaning word


 * Examples** from text:

1) //Hands// by Sherwood Anderson is an example of a story that possesses a prologue. A summary of the prologue is below:

The prologue to this story is entitled The //Book of the Grotesque//. In the prologue, we read about a old writer who wants his bed to be raised so he can look through his windows. The writer higher a carpenter who also fought in the Civil War. The carpenter cries and tells the writer of how some of his family members died during the war. After the carpenter left, the writer climbed back into bed and went to sleep. While sleeping, the writer dreams of dying. He also dreams of those people he has met, especially women he had loved. All of these figures were grotesque version of all the people he had know. Having this dreamed caused old man to get up and start writing. The writer writes about his beliefs on the worlds transformation of thoughts into beliefs. He chose to encapsulate this truth into one character in each story and base all of one's existence on an absolute truth transformed the figure into a grotesque and the truth into a lie.

-This prologue describes what caused the author to write //Hands//. As you can see, the prologue gives you background details and offers you details that allows you to realize where the author is coming from.

JB