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Metafiction is a type of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. It is the term given to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. It usually involves irony and is self-reflective. It can be compared to presentational theatre in a sense; presentational theatre does not let the audience forget they are viewing a play, and metafiction does not let the readers forget they are reading a work of fiction. Metafiction is primarily associated with Modernist and Postmodernist literature but can be found at least as far back as Cervantes' Don Quixote and even Chaucer's 14th Century Canterbury Tales. It came to prominence in the early 1960s through such authors as John Barth, Robert Coover, and William H. Gass. The classic examples from the time include: Barth's Lost in the Funhouse, Wheen's Yellow is the Colour of My Banana, Coover's The Babysitter and The Magic Poker, and Gass's Willie Master's Lonesome Wife. Some common metafictive devices include: Metafiction may figure for only a moment in a story, as when "Roger" makes a brief appearance in Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, or it may be central to the work, as in Tristram Shandy. Metafiction is a device heavily involved in postmodernist literature. Examples such as If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, "a novel about a person reading a novel" as above, can be seen solely as exercises in metafiction. Some elements of metafiction are similar to devices used in metafilm techniques. Metafiction is also the title of an album produced by Vic Mignogna.
Literature Movies Charlie Kaufman is a screenwriter who uses this narrative technique often. See also | ||||||||
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