Final answer:
A flashback is a literary device that interrupts the current narrative to depict events that happened in the past, thus providing context and background.
Step-by-step explanation:
The literary device that interrupts present action to show events which occurred in the past is known as a flashback. A flashback is a plot device where the narrative goes back in time to reveal prior events to the audience, providing background or context to the current events of the narrative. For example, in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, while the protagonist Farquhar is on the bridge about to be hanged, the story flashes back to earlier events to inform the reader about how he arrived at this situation.