Man’s Search for Meaning: Flashbacks 1 key example

Flashbacks—as well as flashforwards and nonlinear narration in general—are characteristic of the narrative structure of Man’s Search for Meaning.

Across Part I, Frankl describes his years as a prisoner in various concentration camps. However, he often presents his memories as they are relevant to his psychological or philosophical views rather than in chronological order. For example, when Frankl describes the first stage of the prisoners’ psychological reactions—that is, shock—he uses his own admission to the concentration camp as an example. He describes his experience in a flashback at the start of Part I: