Diegesis

According to Gerald Prince in A Dictionary of Narratology, diegesis is "(1) The (fictional) world in which the situations and events narrated occur; (2) Telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting." In diegesis the narrator tells the story. The narrator presents to the audience or the implied readers the actions (and perhaps) thoughts of the characters (including perhaps, but not necessarily, all that dwells within their imagination, their fantasies and dreams).

Diegesis (Greek διήγησις) has been contrasted since Plato's and Aristotle's times with mimesis, the form that is showing rather than telling the thoughts or the inner processes of characters, by external action and acting. Diegesis, however, is the narrative in fiction and nonfiction, the telling of the story by the narrator(s). The narrator(s) may speak through his/her characters or may be the invisible narrator or even the all-knowing narrator who speaks from above in the form of commenting on the action or the characters.