General Issues and Signs of Metafiction
(These issues are, of course, overlapping with each other.)
Provider: Kate Liu / 劉紀雯
　
Issues 1: fiction and reality
Signs and Examples
  • reality is no longer understandable; history is just fiction (or constructions)
--over-plotting to show mysteries in "history" or its multiple interpretations;
--under-plotting, presenting the disfunctioning of language/communication or language games
--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 
--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
--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
  • intertextuality 
--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
Issues 1: fiction and reality
Signs and Examples
  • reality is no longer understandable; history is just fiction (or constructions)
--over-plotting --Forrest Gump (overuse of coincidences and miracles); 
Stuntman (acting/conspiracies as life, life as acting/conspiracies) 
--under-plotting, 
--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 
--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
--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
  • intertextuality 
--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.

(external) Literary Criticism Databank: Postmodernism and Urban Space ;
Postmodern Theories and Texts