What is a prologue in a book?

Question

what does it say in it, whats it about? and whast the different between chpaters, also can a prologue be as long as a chapter with dialogue from the chracrcters?

Answer 1

The English noun 'prologue' has these 3 basic meanings:

An introductory chapter, as to a novel, or a preface to a book,
An introductory act, such as a poem recited to introduce a play
An introduction to an event, or a period.

In Japanese, it is 序章, じょしょう , 'joshou', when referring to a prologue in a book, and it is 序幕, じょまく, 'jomaku', when referring to a prologue in the theater.

It tells you the background to the story, sometimes who the characters are, or what the political or family problem is, so you understand the background or history which created the story you are reading.

If you read the Lord of the Rings, the prologue will tell you about Middle Earth, and the Hobbits, and the previous history of the Ring. If you read an English edition of the Tale of Genji, the prologue will explain Japanese History, and culture, and the relationships between Genji and the other characters.

Usually, a prologue is short, but sometimes it can be as long or longer than the other chapters. And, yes, the prologue can have dialogue from the characters.

The basic difference between a prologue and other chapters is that the chapters are the actual, active story; the prologue is the history behind the story.

Just for fun, here is the history of the word 'prologue':

It is from the Middle English word 'prolog', which came from the Old French word "prologue" (where we get the spelling), which in turn came from the Latin word 'prologus', which was borrowed from the Greek word 'prologos', formed by combining the Greek word 'pro', meaning before, and the Greek word 'logos', meaning speech.

Answer 2

It can vary, but a prologue is usually distiguished in some way from the main body of the book.

It is usually used to provide background information or to "set the stage", before introducing the players. A variation on this is the prologue that contains a scene from the past (or even the future) with one or more of the main characters.

There are as many literary tricks to this as there are writers, but if it is not somehow distinguished from the rest of the book, it should simply be called "Chapter 1".

Answer 3

A prologue in a book is a chapter preceding the first chapter and is essentially a forward that introduces the story. yes, it can contain dialogue and action from the story. In the prologue ur essentially laying the foreground for the story/book by giving the reader a taste of the story that lays the groundwork for the reader to know what or why the story is going to tell teh reader

Answer 4

The prologue is always in the beginning of the book, as you may have noticed. In most cases it fills in part of the story that you wouldn't otherwise hear of in the chapters. Perhaps even giving a vague idea of the plot. They can be as small as a paragraph or even longer than an average chapter and contain dialog.

A common example is showing the perspective of a different character than the main in the prologue.

Answer 5

Prologue - introduces the idea of the book - before the story
Epilogue - provides a summary of a book - after the story.

The 'logue' part refers to 'telling something'.
Pro means 'before', Epi means 'after.

The story itself goes into the chapters.

You usually don't put details into the prologue nor dialogue of the character, except perhaps a short quote that hits on the idea.

A Prologue is a sort of introduction to the theme of the book while an epilogue wraps it up with a sort of summary.

Answer 6

The prologue in a book can be a hook, an excerpt of a coming scene, or something that happens at the very beginning to set the stage.

In my novel, the prologue sets the stage and is a pivotal scene, where something happens which affects the protagonist and all those he holds dear, in coming scenes.

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Answer 7

Is an introduction - no dialogue usually - just a statement of characters or theme of the book or even a thank you to the people who help you - your choice - good luck!@~

Answer 8

the first pages about the book usually