Atype scene is a literary convention employed by a narrator across a set of scenes, or related to scenes (place, action) already familiar to the audience. The similarities with, and differences from, the established type are used to illuminate developments in plot and character. Robert Louis Fowler wrote, "The technique of the type-scene offers the poet a basic scaffolding, but it also allows the poet to adapt each scene for specific purposes."[1]: 135
Much of the foundational work for such analysis was by Walter Arend in his 1933 book,Die typischen Szenen bei Homer, on theIliad ofHomer.
Later work byRobert Alter employed similar examination to parts of theHebrew Bible, in particular to the betrothal type-scene at the well inGenesis.[2]: 45 Another type scene that Alter identifies is the annunciation of the birth of the hero to a barren woman, such as the birth ofSamson toManoah's wife, or the birth ofSamuel toHannah. Other scholars have suggested other type scenes in the Hebrew Bible, such as theheavenly council,theophany, prophetic concealment and the dying monarch.[3]
Type scenes have also been identified in Old English and Old Norse literature.[4][5]
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