Tellisime

Tellisime is a fictional term used in speculative fiction and theoretical discourse within an invented corpus. It designates a narrative technique in which multiple layers of meaning are encoded in the structure and rhetoric of storytelling, so that audiences uncover information through form as well as content.

The word appears to be coinage, formed from a root suggests “to tell” and a suffix modeled on -ism, used in this fictional context to denote a practice or doctrine.

Tellisime encompasses devices such as polyphonic narration, nested or frame narratives, parallel plot strands, and metaphorical coding. It enables creators to embed cultural memory, civic ethics, or hidden information within a single work that can be interpreted at several levels, often requiring active reader participation.

In the imagined world where the term originates, tellisime emerged as a response to censorship and social upheaval, offering a way to preserve histories and critique power without overt denunciation. It is discussed by scholars as a communal practice rather than a solitary craft, emphasizing collective interpretation.

Critical reception within that universe ranges from praise of resilience and mnemonic value to concerns about opacity and unequal access to interpretive codes. Some argue that tellisime strengthens social memory, others worry it may privilege insiders who understand the coded cues.

An early example appears in the fictional collection Voices in the Veil, where a single tale circulates through simultaneous narrators who recall different community experiences through recurring motifs that only align on a second, inner reading.

Related concepts include metafiction, allegory, polyphony, and encoded narratives within literary theory and world-building studies.

References to tellisime come from in-world texts and authorial prefaces within the fictional corpus.