Metafiction
From Wiki @ Karl Jones dot com
Metafiction is a literary device used to self-consciously and systematically draw attention to a work's status as an artifact.
Contents
Description
It poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection. It can be compared to presentational theatre, which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play; metafiction forces readers to be aware that they are reading a fictional work.
Devices
Common metafictive devices in literature include:
- A story about a writer who creates a story
- A story that features itself (as a narrative or as a physical object) as its own prop or MacGuffin
- A story containing another work of fiction within itself
- A story addressing the specific conventions of story, such as title, character conventions, paragraphing or plots
- A novel where the narrator intentionally exposes him or herself as the author of the story
- A book in which the book itself seeks interaction with the reader
- A story in which the readers of the story itself force the author to change the story
- Narrative footnotes, which continue the story while commenting on it
- A story in which the characters are aware that they are in a story
- A story in which the characters make reference to the author or his previous work
- These elements of metafiction are similar to devices used in metacinematic techniques.
This can be related in O'Briens book, "The Things They Carried" in the section called How to Tell a True War Story.
See also
External links
- Metafiction @ Wikipedia
