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General
Issues and Signs of Metafiction
(These issues are, of
course, overlapping with each other.)
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Issues 1: fiction and reality
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Signs
and Examples
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- reality
is no longer understandable; history is just fiction (or constructions)
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--over-plotting
to show mysteries in "history" or its multiple interpretations;
--under-plotting, presenting the disfunctioning of
language/communication or language games |
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--typographical
marks and the black page in Tristram Shandy
--labyrinth in "Lost in the Funhouse"
--Pale Fire
--Illustrations in Breakfast of Champion and Slaughterhouse-V |
- the
paradoxical status of author--power or no power
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--the
appearance of the author in The French Lieutenant''s Woman
as a peck of dust to be brushed off by Charles
--the god-game in The Magus
--Vonnegut in Dresden in Slaughterhouse-V
--the characters out of the author''s control
--the conflict (or struggle for power) between reader and author in
Stephen King''s Mystery and Rushdie''s Midnight''s
Children |
- foregrounding
the fiction of fiction and reality
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--the
juxtaposition of fictional characters and historical figures
--discussion of writing techniques, inclusion in the text of
"external" elements of the text such as "preface," author,
editor and advertisement.
--the use of frames |
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--parody
of realist texts or official history in Midnight''s Children
--Tristram Shandy and Tin Drum
as intertexts in Midnight''s Children |
The
simple notion that language passively reflects a coherent, meaningful
and objective world is no longer tenable. Language
is an independent, self-contained system which
generates its own ''meanings.'' (Waugh
3)
Examples of Films--to be completed
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Issues 1: fiction and reality
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Signs
and Examples
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- reality
is no longer understandable; history is just fiction (or constructions)
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--over-plotting
--Forrest Gump (overuse of coincidences and
miracles);
Stuntman (acting/conspiracies as life, life
as acting/conspiracies)
--under-plotting, |
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--Drowning
by Numbers
--labyrinth in "Lost in the Funhouse"
--Pale Fire
--Illustrations in Breakfast of Champion and Slaughterhouse-V |
- the
paradoxical status of author--power or no power
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--the
appearance of the director in Icicle
Thief, Woody Allen''s films, 《飛俠阿達》, 《阮
鈴玉》
--the god-game in Stuntman |
- foregrounding
the fiction of fiction and reality
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--the
juxtaposition of fictional characters and historical figures
Forrest
Gump
--discussion of filmic techniques, inclusion in the text of
"external" elements of the text such as studio, author,
reviewers and advertisement. Icicle
Thief
--the use of frames |
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--parody
-- Icicle
Thief
-- pastiche -- Hot Shot; David Lynch''s
Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet |
Reference:
Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction:
The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. NY:
Routledge, 1984.
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