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Metafiction is a type of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Metafiction is an album composed, arranged, and produced by Vic Mignogna. ... An illustration from Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing a fantastical game of croquet. ...

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. Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ...

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. Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (IPA: in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... Geoffrey Chaucer (c. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ...

In the 1950s, several French novelists published works whose styles were collectively dubbed "nouveau roman", meaning "new novel". These "new novels" were characterized by their bending of genre and style and often included elements of metafiction. This does not cite any references or sources. ... The nouveau roman (French: new novel) is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Stylistics is the study of style used in literary, and verbal language and the effect the writer/speaker wishes to communicate to the reader/hearer. ...

It came to prominence in the 1960s through such authors as John Barth, Robert Coover, Kurt Vonnegut, and William H. Gass. The classic examples from the time include: Barth's Lost in the Funhouse, Coover's The Babysitter and The Magic Poker, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, and Gass's Willie Master's Lonesome Wife. The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... John Simmons Barth (born May 27, 1930) is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work. ... Robert Coover (born February 4, 1932) is an American author and professor in the Literary Arts program at Brown University. ... Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ... William H. Gass (born July 30, 1924) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic and former philosophy professor. ... Lost in the Funhouse is a collection of loosely connected short stories that was originally published by John Barth in 1968. ... Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Childrens Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death is a 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut. ...

Various devices of metafiction

Some common metafictive devices include:

• A work of fiction within a fiction (e.g. Hamlet, The Laughing Man, The Crying of Lot 49)
• A novel about a person writing a novel (e.g. Secret Window, Secret Garden, At Swim-Two-Birds, Atonement, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Counterfeiters).
• A novel about a person reading a novel (e.g. Neverending Story, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler).
• A novel which itself is within the novel (e.g. Sophie's World).
• A story that addresses the specific conventions of story, such as title, paragraphing or plots. (e.g. Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth)
• A non-linear novel, which can be read in some order other than beginning to end (e.g. The Unfortunates by B. S. Johnson, Rayuela by Julio Cortazar).
• Narrative footnotes, which continue the story while commenting on it (e.g. Pale Fire, House of Leaves).
• A novel in which the author (not merely the narrator) is a character (e.g. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Life of Pi, Everything Is Illuminated, The People of Paper, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse Five, Song of Susannah).
• A movie in which a character reads a fictional story (e.g. The Princess Bride, Disney Channel's Life is Ruff)
• A movie or television show in which a character begins humming, whistling, or listening to (on a radio, etc), the show or movie's theme song (e.g. the final scene of "Homer's Triple Bypass", from The Simpsons, or when Sam Carter hums the theme from Stargate SG-1 during the episode "Chimera", or the second Collector from Demon Knight).
• A parallel novel which has the same setting and time period as a previous work, and many of the same characters, but is told from a different perspective (e.g. Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, Grendel by John Gardner).
• A work of fiction directly referencing another work that internally references the first work. (e.g. Weird Al Yankovic appearing on The Simpsons, when he himself sings songs that reference The Simpsons.)
• A story that anticipates the reader's reaction to the story.
• Characters who do things because those actions are what they would expect from characters in a story. (e.g. Scream, Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
• Characters who express awareness that they are in a work of fiction (e.g. Stranger than Fiction, "The Great Good Thing", Puckoon, Spaceballs: the Movie, Deadpool, Uso Justo, 1/0)
• A real pre-existing piece of fiction X, being used within a new piece of fiction Y, to give the illusion that Y's fictional world is "our world", e.g. the scene in Clerks when Dante Hicks and Randal Graves discuss the Star Wars saga.
• A story where the author is not a character, but interacts with the characters. (e.g. She-Hulk, Animal Man, Betty Boop, Daffy Duck in Duck Amuck, Breakfast of Champions)
• A dialogue between two characters who interact within the dialogue with the author himself, who enters the dialogue he is writing as a character created by him. (Gödel, Escher, Bach)

Contemporary author Paul Auster has made metafiction the central focus of his writing and is probably the best known active novelist specialising in the genre. Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... The Laughing Man is a short story written by J. D. Salinger and originally published in The New Yorker magazine on March 19, 1949. ... The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) is a novel by the author Thomas Pynchon. ... Four Past Midnight is a collection of four novellas by Stephen King. ... At Swim-Two-Birds is a novel by Irish novelist Flann OBrien (one pen-name of Brian ONolan) published in 1939. ... Atonement (2001) is a novel by British writer Ian McEwan. ... The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a novel written by Mark Haddon that won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. ... The Counterfeiters (Les faux-monnayeurs) is a 1925 novel by French author André Gide, first published in Nouvelle Revue Française. ... The Neverending Story (Die Unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in 1979. ... If on a Winters Night a Traveler (Se una notte dinverno un viaggiatore) is a novel published in 1979 by Italo Calvino. ... Sophies World (Sofies verden in the original Norwegian) is a novel by Jostein Gaarder, published in 1991. ... Lost in the Funhouse is a collection of loosely connected short stories that was originally published by John Barth in 1968. ... John Simmons Barth (born May 27, 1930) is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work. ... In the arts, the word nonlinear is used to describe events portrayed in a non-chronological manner. ... B. S. Johnson (Bryan Stanley Johnson) (5 February 1933 - 13 November 1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet, literary critic and film-maker. ... Rayuela (translated into English as Hopscotch) is the most famous novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. ... Julio Cortázar (August 26, 1914 - February 12, 1984) was an Argentine intellectual and author of several experimental novels and many short stories. ... Note: See also Wikipedia:Cite sources This is Wikipedia:Manual of Style :: Footnotes; discussion is being continued at Footnote2 New Proposed Footnote format Format All footnotes (text that for clarity or conciseness should not be inline) should be of the following form. ... Penguin Classics edition of Pale Fire Pale Fire (1962) is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, his fourteenth in total and fifth in English. ... House of Leaves is the debut novel by the American author writer Mark Z. Danielewski, published by Pantheon Books (ISBN 0-375-70376-4). ... This article is about the book series. ... Life of Pi is a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. ... This article is about the book. ... The People of Paper is the debut novel of Salvador Plascencia. ... For the breakfast cereal, see Wheaties. ... Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Childrens Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death is a 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut. ... Song of Susannah is the sixth and penultimate novel in Stephen Kings Dark Tower series. ... The Princess Bride is a 1973 novel written by William Goldman and originally published in the USA by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ... For the Disney Channel in other countries, see Disney Channel around the world. ... Life is Ruff is a 2005 Disney Channel Original Movie. ... The theme music of a radio or television program is a piece that is written specifically for that show and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits. ... Homers Triple Bypass is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on December 17, 1992. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Samantha Sam Carter (born December 29, 1968)[2] is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, played by English-Canadian actress Amanda Tapping. ... Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. ... Chimera is an episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. ... Demon Knight (also known as Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight) is a 1995 horror film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, and stars Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett Smith. ... A parallel novel is a subset of metafiction. ... This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Irish author and scholar. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Sir Tom Stoppard, OM, CBE (born as Tomáš Straussler on July 3, 1937)[1] is an Academy Award winning British playwright of more than 24 plays. ... Grendel is a novel recasting the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. ... John Champlin Gardner, Jr. ... This article is about the musician. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Scream is a 1996 horror/dark comedy film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. ... Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (on its Touchstone Pictures banner), Using traditional animation and live action. ... Stranger than Fiction is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. ... Puckoon is a comic novel by Spike Milligan, first published in 1963. ... Spaceballs is a 1987 science fiction parody film co-written, directed, and starring Mel Brooks. ... For other uses of Wade Wilson, see Wade Wilson Deadpool is a fictional comic book character sometimes depicted as a, mercenary, villain, or anti-hero; who appears in books published by Marvel Comics, usually in the X-Men family of titles. ... 1/0 (One Over Zero) is a webcomic created by Mason Williams, aka Tailsteak. ... This article is about the film. ... Dante Hicks (played by Brian OHalloran) in the movie Dante Hicks is a fictional character in Kevin Smiths View Askewniverse, played by Brian OHalloran. ... Dante Hicks (left) and Randal (right) Randal Graves (b. ... Star Wars is an epic space opera saga and a fictional universe initially developed by George Lucas during the 1970s and expanded since that time. ... She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) is a Marvel Comics superheroine. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Betty Boop from the opening title sequence of the earliest entries in the Betty Boop Cartoons Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. ... Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. ... Scene from Duck Amuck Duck Amuck is a surreal 1951 animated cartoon produced by Warner Bros. ... For the breakfast cereal, see Wheaties. ... Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid: A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize (1980)-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, published in 1979 by Basic Books. ... Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947, Newark, New Jersey) is a Brooklyn-based author. ...

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 The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels. ... The fictional realm of Amber is the setting for the Amber fantasy novels by Roger Zelazny (and for the Amber diceless role_playing game they inspired). ... The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or, more briefly, Tristram Shandy) is a novel by Laurence Sterne. ...

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 as exercises in metafiction. If on a Winters Night a Traveler (Se una notte dinverno un viaggiatore) is a novel published in 1979 by Italo Calvino. ... Italo Calvino, on the cover of Lezioni americane: Sei proposte per il prossimo millennio Italo Calvino (October 15, 1923 – September 19, 1985) (pronounced ) was an Italian writer and novelist. ...

It can be used in multiple ways within one work. For example, novelist Tim O'Brien, an actual Vietnam vet, writes in his novel/short story collection The Things They Carried about a character named Tim O'Brien and his experiences in Vietnam. The character Tim O'Brien as the narrator comments on the fictionality of some of the war stories, and comments on the "truth" behind the story, though all of it is fiction. Likewise, in the story/chapter How to Tell a True War Story, O'Brien comments on the difficulty of capturing the truth while telling a war story. Tim OBrien can refer to: American author Tim OBrien American bluegrass musician Tim OBrien Irish-born cricketer Sir Timothy (Tim) Carew OBrien (5 November 1861 - 9 December 1948), who played 5 test matches for England and captained England in one test in 1895/6. ... The Things They Carried is a collection of related vignettes by Tim OBrien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin, 1990. ...

According to Paul de Man all fiction is metafictional, since all works of literature are concerned with language and literature itself. Paul de Man (December 6, 1919 – December 21, 1983) was a Belgian-born deconstructionist literary critic and theorist. ...

Some elements of metafiction are similar to devices used in metafilm techniques. Similar to metafiction in technique, the style of the film making calls attention to the fact that the film itself is a metaphor about the actual production of the film and that the audience is tied in with the drama unfolding on the screen. ...

Movies

Main article: Metafilm

Charlie Kaufman is a screenwriter who often uses this narrative technique. In the film Adaptation, his character Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage) tortuously attempts to write a screenplay adapted from the book The Orchid Thief, only to come to the realization that such an adaptation is impossible. Many plot devices used throughout the film are verbalized by Kaufman as he develops a screenplay, and the screenplay which eventually results is Adaptation itself. Similar to metafiction in technique, the style of the film making calls attention to the fact that the film itself is a metaphor about the actual production of the film and that the audience is tied in with the drama unfolding on the screen. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... film poster Adaptation. ... Nicolas Cage (born Nicholas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ... The Orchid Thief is a non-fiction work of literature by American journalist and author Susan Orlean, based on her investigation of the 1994 arrest of John Laroche and a group of Seminoles in south Florida for poaching rare orchids in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. ...

See also

Metafiction is a kind of fiction which contains references to the fiction writing process, for example an author including his notes as part of the work. ... A self-reference occurs when an object refers to itself. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The word ‘metatheatre’ was coined by Lionel Abel in 1963 and, although the term has entered into common critical usage, there is still much uncertainty over its proper definition, and what dramatic techniques might be included under its banner. ... Similar to metafiction in technique, the style of the film making calls attention to the fact that the film itself is a metaphor about the actual production of the film and that the audience is tied in with the drama unfolding on the screen. ... In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about other languages (object languages). ... What is meta-discussion? Meta-discussion is second-order discussion: discussion about the discussion – for instance, about its style, its participants, the forum in which it takes place, and so on – instead of about on-topic matters. ... Meta-joke may refer to three somewhat different, but related categories: self-referring jokes, jokes about jokes (see meta-) also known as metahumor, and joke templates. // Self-referential jokes This kind of meta-joke is a joke in which the joke itself, or, rather, a certain category of joke, is... Metaknowledge or meta-knowledge is knowledge about knowledge. ... A story within a story is a literary device or conceit in which one story is told during the action of another story. ... A show-within-a-show is typically a fictional television show featured within the fictional universe of a real television show, or a montage/one theatrical show within another theatrical show (like Annie Get Your Gun ). Less frequently, the term may be applied to a fictional radio show within a... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An aside is a technique used in a dramatic performance whereby the actor will step aside from the action and deliver a soliloquy or an asinine remark to the audience which is assumed to be unheard by the other characters on stage. ... A prologue (Greek πρόλογος, from προ~, pro~ - fore~, and lógos, word), or rarely prolog, is a prefatory piece of writing, usually composed to introduce a drama. ... An epilogue, or epilog, is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc) is a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. ... A fictional fictional character is a kind of metafiction. ...

Bibliography

• Hutcheon, Linda, Narcissistic Narrative. The Metafictional Paradox, Routledge 1984, ISBN 0-415-06567-4
• Waugh, Patricia, Metafiction. The Theory and Practice of Self-conscious Fiction, Routledge 1988, ISBN 0-415-03006-4