[A]n additional consideration for narratology is offered by Gerard Genette's recent suggestion that the presence of narrative embedding may be one of the very few formal criteria for differentiating fictional from factual narrative.

In his influential Narrative Discourse and Narrative Discourse, Revisited, Genette posits a classification system for embedded narratives that categorizes each internal narrative based on the thematic and narrative relationships that bring external meaning to internal narratives.

I will focus on Genette's Narrative Discourse Revisited as he has modified his system of classification since his first edition. Genette cites John Barth's "Tales within Tales within Tales" as a "expert in the matter" (92) and utilises many of his ideas in his own classification system. Genette's new system has six categories. Clicking on any element of this list will take you to an explanation below:

• Explanatory function
• Metadiegetic prolepsis
• Purely thematic narrative
• Dramaturgical narrative
• Distractive or obstructive narrative

An explanatory narrative is defined in Narrative Discourse as "direct causality between the events of the metadiegesis and those of the diegesis, conferring on the second narrative an explanatory function" (Narrative Discourse 232, original emphasis). Embedded narratives of this type attempt to explain what has previously happened, unbeknownst to the reader, that has allowed the external story to reach the point on which it currently rests. Examples of this type of embedded narrative are common in epics; Odysseus tells his stories to audiences (and the reader) which explain how he finds himself in their presence.

Metadiegetic prolepsis is a category of embedded narrative uncommon in everyday literature. It first appears in Narrative Discourse Revisited as "a function that neither Barth or I thought of but that now comes to mind" (NDR 93). Metadiegetic prolepsis is simply the reversal of the explanation; the embedded narrative predicts the future of the narrative. Genette cites Jocabel's dream about the future of Moise in Moyse sauve and states that it includes "all the premonitory dreams and prophetic narratives, the oracle of Oedipus, the witches of Macbeth, etc." (NDR 93).

The purely thematic narrative is one which does not involve itself in the plot of the external story. Genette cites the French "new novel" as an extreme example of such a structure in both of his works while in Narrative Discourse Revisited he credits Barth with a reformation of this category.

The dramaturgical narrative first arises as a category in Barth's essay. While Barth defines "low-level, middle-level, and high-level pertinencies" he warns the reader against attempts at categorization: "understanding these to be not categories by points on a scale" (Barth 57). The dramaturgical embedded narrative is one that both influences the path of the external narrative and provides thematical insight into the frame-story. Barth's low-level, middle-level, and high-level classifications depend on the effect of the inner narrative on the outer. The low-level relation is "distinguished from the thematic only because it portends a general course or action in the frame-story," the middle-level relation "specifically trigger[s] the next major event in the frame-story," and the high-level relation consists of "the 'inside' story's climaxing or reversing the action of the 'outside' story" (57). Instead of trying to categorize these dramaturgical relationships, this project will instead examine position on Barth's scale.

Distractive and obstructive narratives are tackled together because their individual distinctions are best exemplified through their differences. The distractive narrative is cited as coming directly from Barth while the obstructive is mutates from Narrative Discourse to Narrative Discourse Revisited, where the category first appears. Simply put, the difference between these two types of narratives is a function of the way in which the story is told. A distractive story is still relevant to the storyline while the obstructive story is more along the lines of "parliamentary filibustering or the biblical lines and verses of song that the two reporters Harry Blount and Alcide Jolivet takes turns dropping off at the telegraph window at Kolyvan, each one tying up the wire to prevent the other one from sending any dispatches" (NDR 94). Obstructive stories are purely obstructive, while distractive stories advance some sort of plot.

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