I've been reading Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad, which is rife with what I would call non-standard narrative structures.
There are obvious narrative peculiarities in the book that have been discussed at length already, such as the changes from omnipresent narration, to third-person narration, to even a written letter included at the end.
However, what I noticed, and personally found quite frustrating, was the author's tendency to start a portion of his story at the very end of that story, and then go back later to fill in how the characters got there.
For example, the beginning episode of the book, the affair of the Patna, is not told until the trial of Jim is underway. The tale of his adventures on Patusan are not told until we are first shown the status he attained as "Lord Jim". And the tale of Jim's romance begins with a meditation on his love's gravestone.
Is there an explicit term for this narrative structure? I was thinking of the concept of "in media res", but this is not beginning in the middle, it's beginning at the very end! And is there any reason an author would employ this method?