The clothes we wear have stitches and seams that are visible on the inside but not on the outside. Fictional narratives too are stitched together by using various literary devices and techniques. When these techniques and devices are made explicit to the reader or character(s) of the literary work, it is a work of metafiction.
Metafiction: definition
Metafiction is a type of literary fiction. The stylistic elements, literary devices and techniques and the mode of writing contribute to the metafiction nature of the text.
Metafiction: Metafiction is a form of literary fiction. The narrative of metafiction explicitly shows its own constructedness, i.e., how the story was written or how the characters are aware of their fictionality. Through the use of certain stylistic elements, a work of metafiction continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a work of fiction.
For example, in Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair (2001), the main character, Thursday Next, enters Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre (1847), through a machine. He does this to help the fictional character, Jane Eyre, who is very much aware that she is a character in a novel and not a 'real-life' person.
Among the first literary critics to explore the concept of metafiction is Patricia Waugh, whose seminal work, Metafiction: the Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction (1984) has had a significant impact on literary studies.
Purpose of metafiction
Metafiction is used to create an out-of-the-ordinary experience for its audience. This experience often has the effect of blurring the border between fictional literature or film and the real world. It can also have the effect of highlighting the difference between the two worlds of real and fictional.
Difference between fiction and metafiction
Fiction refers to invented material, and in literature, it refers specifically to imaginative writing that is not factual or is only loosely based on reality. Generally, in works of fiction, the boundary between reality and the made-up world in fiction is very clear.
Metafiction is a self-reflective form of fiction where the characters involved are aware that they are in a fictional world. In metafiction, the boundary between reality and the made-up world is blurred and often breached by the characters involved.
Metafiction: characteristics
Metafiction is very different from how a work of literature or film is typically presented because it keeps the audience aware that it is a man-made artefact or a constructed work. Common characteristics of metafiction are:
The writer intrudes to make a commentary about the writing.
Metafiction breaks the fourth wall - the writer, narrator or character directly addresses the audience, so the border between fiction and reality is blurred.
The writer or narrator questions the narrative of the story or elements of the story being told.
The writer interacts with fictional characters.
The fictional characters express awareness that they are part of a fictional narrative.
Metafiction often allows characters to self-reflect and question what is happening to them. This simultaneously allows the readers or audience to do the same.
Metafiction is not always used in the same way through literature and film. These characteristics are some of the most common features that help identify a reader that they are perusing a work of metafiction. Metafiction can be used experimentally and with a combination of other literary techniques. This is part of what makes metafiction exciting and varied as a literary element.
The fourth wall is an imaginary boundary between a work of literature, film, television or theatre and the audience or readers. It separates the imagined, created world from the real world. The breaking of the fourth wall connects the two worlds and often implies characters having an awareness that they have an audience or readers.
Metafiction: examples
This section looks into examples of metafiction from books and films.
Deadpool (2016)
A popular example of metafiction is the film Deadpool (2016) directed by Tim Miller. In Deadpool (2016), protagonist Wade Wilson gains the superpower of being indestructible after scientific experiments were conducted on him by scientist Ajax. Wade initially sought this treatment as a cure for his cancer, but the results were not as expected. He leaves disfigured but gains the power of being indestructible. The film follows his plot for revenge. Wade frequently breaks the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera and talking to the viewer of the film. This is a characteristic of metafiction. The result of this is that the viewer knows that Wade is aware that he is a fictional character who exists in a fictional universe.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1987)
In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1987) directed by John Hughes, protagonist and narrator Ferris Bueller begins his day attempting to call in sick to school and explore Chicago for the day. His principal, Principal Rooney, tries to catch him red-handed. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is an example of metafiction because it breaks the fourth wall. This is a common characteristic of metafiction. In the film, Ferris speaks directly to the screen and the audience. It feels like the audience is somehow involved in the plot of the film.
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood is a metafictional work because it features a lecture at the end of the novel where characters discuss 'The Handmaid's Tale' as an account of the experiences of Offred, the protagonist. They discuss it like it is a historical document, using it to consider America before and during the era of the Republic of Gilead.
A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
A Clockwork Orange (1962) follows protagonist Alex in a futuristic society with extreme violence in the youth subculture. This novel features a novel within itself, otherwise also known as a framed narrative. A framed narrative makes the reader conscious of the fact that they are reading a fictional account. One of Alex's victims is an elderly man whose manuscript is also called A Clockwork Orange. This breaks the boundary in the literature between fiction and reality.
Metafiction in postmodernism
Postmodernist literature is characterised by fragmented narratives, which often employ literary devices and techniques such as intertextuality, metafiction, unreliable narration and a non-chronological sequence of events.
These techniques are used to avoid the typical literary structure where texts have an absolute meaning. Instead, these texts use the previously mentioned techniques to shed light on political, social and historical issues and events.
Postmodernist literature stems from the United States around the 1960s. Features of postmodernist literature include texts that challenge conventional opinion on political, social and historical issues. These texts often challenge authority. The emergence of postmodernist literature is accredited to discussions about human rights violations during World War 2, which were prominent in the 1960s.
The role of metafiction in postmodernist literature is that it presents an external lens to events occurring in the text. It can function as an outside look into a fictional world. This means that it can explain things to the reader that most characters in the text do not understand or are not aware of.
An example of the use of metafiction in postmodernist literature is John Barth’s novel Giles Goat-Boy (1966). This novel is about a boy who is raised by a goat to become a great spiritual leader, a ‘Grand Tutor’ in ‘New Tammany College’, which is used as a metaphor for the United States, Earth, or the Universe. It is a satirical setting in a college run by computers. The element of metafiction in Giles Goat-Boy (1966) is the use of disclaimers that the novel is an artefact that is not written by the author. This artefact was in fact written by a computer or given to Barth in the form of a tape. This text is metafictional because readers are unsure if the story is told by the computer or by the author. The boundary between the reality that the author wrote it and the fiction that a computer wrote the novel is blurred.
Historiographic metafiction
Historiographic metafiction refers to a type of postmodernist literature that avoids the projection of current beliefs onto past events. It also acknowledges how past events can be specific to the time and space they occurred in.
Historiography: The study of the writing of history.
Linda Hutcheon explores historiographic metafiction in her text A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (1988). Hutcheon explores the difference between facts and events and the role this consideration plays when looking at historical events. Metafiction is incorporated into these postmodern texts to remind the audience or reader that they are viewing or reading an artefact and a document of history. Therefore, history should be treated as a narrative with possible biases, lies, or missing interpretations of the past.
Historiographic metafiction highlights the extent to which an artefact can be considered reliable and viewed as objective documentation of history or events. Hutcheon argues that events do not have meanings in themselves when considered in isolation. Historical events are given meaning when facts are applied to these events in retrospection.
In historiographic metafiction, the line between history and fiction is blurred. This blurring makes it difficult to consider what the objective truths of historical 'facts' are and what the author’s subjective interpretations are.
Postmodern literature in the context of historiographic metafiction can have a set of particular characteristics. This literature may explore multiple truths existing at the same time and being able to exist. This is in contrast to the idea that there is only ever one true account of history. Postmodern literature in such a context does not discredit other truths to be falsehoods - it simply sees other truths as different truths in their own right.
Historiographic metafictions, then, have characters that are based on marginalised or forgotten historical figures, or fictional characters with an outsider perspective on historical events.
An example of postmodern literature with elements of historiographic metafiction is Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981). This novel is about the transition period from the British colonial rule in India to an independent India and to the partition of India into India and Pakistan and, later, Bangladesh. This autobiographical novel is written by a first-person narrator. The protagonist and narrator, Saleem, questions the relaying of events during this time period. Saleem challenges the truth in how historical events are documented. He highlights how memory is essential in the end result of documented historical events.
Metafiction - Key takeaways
- Metafiction is a form of literary fiction. Metafiction is written in a way so that the audience is reminded that they are watching or reading a fictional work or wherein the characters are aware that they are part of a fictional world.
- The characteristics of metafiction in literature include: breaking the fourth wall, the writer intruding to comment on the plot, the writer questioning the narrative of the story, the rejection of a conventional plot - expect the unexpected!
- Metafiction has the effect of blurring the border between fictional literature or film and the real world.
- The role of metafiction in postmodernist literature is that it presents an external lens to events occurring in the text.
- Historiographic metafiction refers to a type of postmodernist literature that avoids the projection of current beliefs onto past events. It also acknowledges how past events can be specific to the time and space they occurred in.
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