ABSTRACT
Olivia Santovetti's definition of digression entails three main points. Firstly, referring to Genette, she classifies digression 'as a section of discourse that corresponds to no duration in the plot'. Secondly, in the light of Peter Brooks's idea of literary deferral, she defines digression as a 'strategy to postpone the end of narration' by increasing the suspense. Finally, for Santovetti, digressive passages in a text are marked by 'the stronger presence of both the narrator and the reader, the two main figures of the narrative process, and a greater awareness of the problematic relationship between the fictional text and reality'. Attempts to define literary digression usually suggest that a literary text contains one or more passages or sections that are not directly part of its plot. The assumption that the term 'digression' is a viable tool to describe literature is accepted as a premise for research.
