it creates a distinction between the imaginary space within the play and the outside world. Ben Jonson has often been noted as using the prologue to remind the audience of the complexities between themselves and all aspects of the performance. The actor reciting the prologue would appear dressed in black, a stark contrast to the elaborate costumes used during the play. The prologue removed his hat and wore no makeup. He may have carried a book, scroll, or placard displaying the title of the play. He was introduced by three short trumpet calls, on the third of which he entered and took a position downstage. He made three bows in the current fashion of the court, and then addressed the audience. The Elizabethan prologue was unique in incorporating aspects of both classical and medieval traditions. In the classical tradition, the prologue conformed to one of four subgenres: the sustatikos, which recommends either the play or the poet; the epitimetikos, in which a curse is given against a rival, or thanks given to the audience; dramatikos, in which the plot of the play is explained; and mixtos, which contains all of these things. In the medieval tradition, expressions of morality and modesty are seen, as well as a meta-theatrical self-consciousness, and an unabashed awareness of the financial contract engaged upon by paid actors and playwrights, and a paying audience. Use in fiction Prologues have long been used in non-dramatic fiction, since at least the time of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, although Chaucer had prologues to many of the tales, rather than one at the front of the book. The Museum of Eterna's Novel by the Argentine writer Macedonio Fernandez has over 50 prologues by the author. Their style varies between metaphysical, humoristic, psychological, discussions about the art of the novel, etc. See also Epigraph Epilogue Foreword Interlude Introduction Loa Preface Prolegomena References Attribution Literature Fiction Style (fiction)