mises en abyme

Noun

mise en abyme (usually uncountable, plural mise en abymes or mises en abyme)

1. (usually) A recursive image; an image that contains a smaller representation of itself; especially where the smaller representation itself likewise contains a still smaller representation of the whole image, ad infinitum.
2. (usually, literary theory) Self-reflection or introspection in a literary or other artistic work; the representation of the whole work embedded in a work.
   • The narrative mapping of rhetorical strategies between narrator, characters and readers is supplemented by a network of interior duplication with the device of the mise en abyme.1992, Marie Murphy, Authorizing Fictions, page 80