METAFICTION

Although implicit in many other types of fictional works, self-reflexivity often

becomes the dominant subject of postmodern fiction. The narrator of a metafictional
work will call attention to the writing process itself. The reader is never to forget that
what she is reading is constructed--not natural, not "real." She is never to get "lost" in
the story.
Explicit use of metafictional technique stems from the modernist questioning of
consciousness and 'reality.' Attempting to defend twentieth century metafiction,
theorists link metafictional technique to older literary works. Some supporters trace
self-reflexivity as far back as Miguel Cervantes' fifteenth century novel, DON
QUIXOTE.
Definitions:
Employing the term "metafiction" to refer to modern works that are radically selfreflexive as well as to works that contain only a few lines of self-consciousness
creates ambiguitity. In her review of Patricia Waugh's METAFICTION: THE
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SELF-CONSCIOUS FICTION (1984), Ann
Jefferson argues that "the trouble is that Waugh cannot have it both ways, and present
metafiction both as an inherent characteristic of narrative fiction and as a response to
the contemporary social and cultural vision" (574). Other theorists often employ the
same double definition of metafiction, which makes it difficult to know whether his or
her definition refers to contemporary metafiction or to all works containing selfreflexivity. John Barth contributes a short blanket definition of metafiction as being a
"novel that imitates a novel rather than the real world" (qtd. in Currie 161).
Patricia Waugh also provides a comprehensive definition by describing metafiction as
"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" (2). Metafictional works, she suggests, are those which "explore a theory
of writing fiction through the practice of writing fiction" (2). Mark Currie highlights
current metafiction's self-critical tendency by depicting it as "a borderline discourse, a
kind of writing which places itself on the border between fiction and criticism, which
takes the border as its subject" (2). Yet, he too encompasses works that are
marginally metafictional by proposing that, "to see the dramatized narrator or novelist
as metanarrative devices is to interpret a substantial proportion of
fiction as meta-fiction" (4).
Despite the subtle differences between their definitions, most theorists agree that
metafiction cannot be classified as a genre nor as the definitive mode of postmodern

fiction. They suggest that metafiction display "a self-reflexivity prompted by the
author's awareness of the theory underlying the construction of fictional works,"
without dividing contemporary metafiction from older works containing similar selfreflexive techniques (Waugh 2).
Spectrum of Metafictional Techniques:
Further individuating the differences between metafictional characteristics present in
post-modern fiction becomes even more complicated because some self-reflexive
works also fall under more radical definitions. Some contemporary metafiction can
also be called surfiction, antifiction, fabulation, neo-baroque fiction, post-modernist
fiction, introverted narrative, irrealism, or as the self-begetting novel (Waugh 13).
Characteristics:
Although characteristics of metafiction vary as widely as the spectrum of techniques
used within them, a pattern of several common traits can be traced. These techniques
often appear in combination, but also can appear singularly. Metafiction often
employs intertextual references and allusions by

examining fictional systems

incorporating aspects of both theory and criticism
creating biographies of imaginary writers
presenting and discussing fictional works of an imaginary character

Authors of metafiction often violate narrative levels by

intruding to comment on writing

involving his or herself with fictional characters
directly addressing the reader
openly questioning how narrative assumptions and conventions transform and
filter reality, trying to ultimately prove that no singular truths or meanings
exist

Metafiction also uses unconventional and experimental techniques by

rejecting conventional plot

refusing to attempt to become "real life"
subverting conventions to transform 'reality' into a highly suspect concept

flaunting and exaggerating foundations of their instability (Waugh 5)

displaying reflexivity (the dimension present in all literary texts and also
central to all literary analysis, a function which enables the reader to understand
the processes by which he or she reads the world as a text)

Works Cited:
Currie, Mark, ed. METAFICTION. New York: Longman, 1995.
Jefferson. Ann. "Patricia Waugh, Metafiction The Theory and Practice of Selfconscious Fiction." POETICS TODAY. 7:3 (1986): 574-6.
Hutcheon, Linda. " "The Pastime of Past Time": Fiction, History, Historiographic
Metafiction." GENRE XX (Fall-Winter 1987).
Ommundenson, Wenche. METAFICTIONS? REFLEXIVITY IN
CONTEMPORARY TEXTS. Australia: Melbourne UP, 1993.
Waugh, Patricia. METAFICTION: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SELFCONSCIOUS FICTION. London: Methuen, 1984.
Selected Bibliography:
Barth, John. "The literature of exhaustion." METAFICTION. Ed. Mark Currie. New
York: Longman, 1995. 161-172.
Dipple, Elizabeth. "A novel which is a machine for generating interpretations."
METAFICTION. Ed. Mark Currie. New York: Longman, 1995. 221-245.
Hutcheon, Linda. NARCISSISTIC NARRATIVE: THE METAFICTIONAL
PARADOX. Methuen, 1980.
McCaffery, Larry. "The art of metafiction." METAFICTION. Ed. Mark Currie. New
York: Longman, 1995. 181-193.
Scholes, Robert. "Metafiction." METAFICTION Ed. Mark Currie. New
York: Longman, 1995. 21-38.