Example of Chinese Box

In literature there is a method used by writers called the method of Chinese box. This method gets its name from the similarity with Chinese boxes, in which a large box contains a smaller box and this in turn a smaller one, and so on.

In the method of the Chinese box It is possible to find a character who narrates what happens to another, who in turn is narrating something that happens to him to another, making an exchange of places and events in time, mixing the present with the past and the future.

When an author uses the method of Chinese box  in his works, several stories are actually told at the same time which can intersect or end up being related in the plot of the novel.

It was Vargas Llosa who called Chinese box to this method, which was used by him in some of his works as well as Michel Butoren in "La Modification" written in 1957 and Carlos Fuentes in "The Death of Artemio Cruz"

Chinese box example:

Arriving at his house, after a hard day of work and discussions with his boss that he did not know for science certain the labor consequences that this would bring him, Juan began to remember what Pedro had discussed.

Jacinta - Pedro said to her - she was the sweetest girl I had ever met, at 15 she was quite a lady, I I had just turned 16 when I met her, her hazel eyes captivated me and I could not contain myself and greet her.

-Hi - I said and she answered me with a melodious hello. We chatted and she started to tell me her story.

We come from the North –said Jacinta –We are five of the family. My father has just been moved from work to this city and I'm just getting to know it. MY father, Don Arnulfo, is the Manager of the Grand Hotel that is in the center of the city.