1 What is metafiction and why are they saying such awful things about it? ‘What is metafiction? “The thing ith ‘That ofall the several ways of beginning a book which are ‘now in practice throughout the known world lam confident zny own way of doing it ie the best ~ I'm sure it isthe most, religious ~ for [begin with writing the fist sentence ~ and trusting to Almighty God forthe second (Laurence Sterne, Tritt Shandy, p. 498) Fuckall this ying look what I'm eally trying to writeaboutis welding not all this tu. (B.S. Johnson, Albert Angele, p. 163) Since I've started thinking about this story, ve gotten boils, piles, eve strain, stomach spasins, anxiety attacks. Finally | fm consumed by the thought that ata certain point we all become nothing more chan djing animals (Ronalé Sukenick, Te Death ofthe Novel and Other Stris, p49) remember once we were out on the ranch shooting pecea dillos (result ofa meeting, on the plains ofthe Wes, ofthe callared peccary nd the nine-banded ermadil) "Donald Barthelme, iy Lie, p. 4)2 Metafiction Fiction is woven into all ... 1 find this new reality (or ‘unreaity] more valid (John Fowles, "Phe French Lienan's Woman, pp. 86-7) asked to point out the similarities amongst this disconcerting selection of quotations, most readers would immediatly list tio oF three of the following: a celebration of the power of the ‘Creative imagination together with an uncertainty about the Validity of its representations; an extreme self-consioasness bout language, literary form and the at of writing fictions; Pervasiveinsecurity about the relationship of fiction reality; parodi, playful, excessive or deceptively naive style of writing. In compiling such 2 list, the reader would, in fect, be “offering a rie description ofthe basic concerns and character~ {Stes ofthe fiction which will be explored inthis book. Metaftion isa term given to fictional weiting which self-consciously and syotematically draws attention to Sts status as an artefact in Drder to pose questions about the relationship between feion Sind realty. In providing a extque of their own methods of Construction, such writings not only examine the fundamental Structures of narrative Betion, they also explore the possible Fetionality ofthe world ouside the literary Setonal text ‘Most of the quotations are faisly contemporary. This is Aeliberate. Over the las wenty years, novelists have tended 0 bbecome much mote aware ofthe theoretical issues involved in Constructing fictions, ln consequence, ther novels have tended to embody dimensions of sell-rfleivity and formal uncer tainty, What connects not only these quotations but also all of the very diferent writers whom one could reler to a5 broadly "imetafietional’ ie tha they all explora thoy of ftion through the practi of writing ion. “the term ‘metafction’ tel? seems to have originated in an essay by the American ciicand self-conscious novelist William HE Gaze (in Gast 1970). However, terms like ‘metapolites, ‘imetarhetorc’ and ‘metatheatre’ are a reminder of what has been, since the 196s, a more general cultural intrest in the problem of how husman beings reflect, construct and mediate their experience of the world. Metaicton pursues such ques tions through t formal selFexploration, drawing on the tadi- What is metafiction? 3 tional metaphor of the word as book, bu often recasting iin the terms of contemporary philosophical linguistic or hterary theory I, a8 indvieal ve ow oeeupy eles rater than ‘selves’, then the sty of characters in novels may provide sscfal model or understanding the construction of sbjetvity inthe world outside novels If our Knowledge ofthis word now seen tobe mediated through language then trary etion (works constructed entirely of language) becomes » useful ‘model for learning abou he construction of realty ise. “The presen increased awareness of met’ levels of discourse and experience is pany a consequence of an increased socal ‘nd cial eeoncosness, Beyond thy Hower a ects a greater awarenes within comtemporary clue ofthe fencing incoming an mango seme everyday ‘ality The simple notion that language passively feflects a coherent, meaningfl and objective” werd is no Tonger tenable. Language is an independent, self-contained system which generates its own "meanings Its raconship 0 the phenomenal world is highly complex, problematic snd regulated by convention. "Met tema theelore, are required in order to explore the relationship between this abttrary Tings eystem and the world to which i apparcily fers in feton they are requted in order ta explore the relationship between the world the tion andthe word et the ction Tuasense, meaficion restson version ofthe Hesenbergian uncertainty principle’ an awarensa that for he salet bude ing blocks of mater, every process of observation cases a major disturbance’ (Heisenberg 1972p. 126), and that tisimposble to describe an objective world because the observe always ‘change the observed. However, the cancerns of metaficon ate ‘sven tore complex than ths, For while Hevenberg beeved fone could atleast describe, if not pear of atore, ten 8 Ps of one's lan tomate met hows the {ling even of this process, How it posible to ‘descibe anything? ‘The metafconist is highly conscious of a basic Gilemms: if he or she sets out twepresent the wordy he for she realizes fainly soon that the wordy st auch, cannot be ‘represented’ In Iterary Seton i fat, posible omy fo “Tepreeat the dicewsr ofthat worl, Yet fone attempts to4 Metafiction analysca setoflinguistirelatonships using hosesamerelation- ships asthe instruments of analyse, language soon becomes 8 ‘prisonhouse’ fiom which the possibilty of escape is remote. Metafication sets out to explore this dilemma ‘ThelinguistL. Hjeimslev developed the term metalanguage’ (Hjelmslev 1961). He defined icas a language which, instead of zeferring to non-linguistie events, situations or objects in the ‘world refers to amie language ti a language which takes nother language as its object. Saussure’ distinction between the signifier and the signified x elevant here. Thesigniieris dhe 2 sound-image of the word or its shape on the page; the signified is the concept evoked by the word. A metalanguage isa language Jest tinction a sie amr eg ond ti eer ee llanguage ths becomes sige Th novelistc practice, this results in writing which consis- cmily displays its conventionality, which explcity and overdy lays bare its condition of arte, abd which thereby explores the problematic relationship between fe and fiction both the face {ha all the word not ofcourse a stage’ and the crucial ways in which it isn't (Goffman 1974, p58). The ‘other’ language ‘may be ether the registers of everyday discourse or, more ust- ally the language” ofthe iterary system isl including the con ‘ventions of thenovel asa whole or particular forms ofthat genre ‘Metafction may concern tel, then, with particular conven tions of the novel, co display the process of thei construction (for example, John Fowles's use of the “omniscient author convention in The French Fialenon’ Woman (ra) may, often in the form of parody, comment on a speife work o fctonal rode (Far example, John Gardner's’ Grendd (1971), which retells, and thus comments on, the Beaeulf sory frm the point ‘of view of the monster; or John Hawkes’ The Lime Tig (2951), which constitutes both an example and a critique ofthe poplat ‘hier. Less centrally metafictional, but stil displaying "meta Aeatures, are fetion like Richard Brautigan’s Pou Fuhieg ix “Ameria (1967). Such novels atempt to create altemative ing tite structures or fictions which merely ipl the old forms by. ‘encouraging the reader to draw on his of her knowledge of traditional literary conventions when struggling 0 constrict a ‘meaning for the new tex. ‘What is metaficti Metafiction and the novel tradition 1 would argue that metafctonal practice has become particu larly prominent in the fiction ofthe last wentyyeaes, However, to draw exclusively on contemporary fiction would be mislead: ing, fr, lthough therm ‘metafcton’ might he news, the pacice is'ts old (it not older) than the novel ise What I hope to ‘’stablsh during the course ofthis book is that metaiction is tendency or function inherent ira novel. Tis form offctionis ‘worth studying not only because ofits contemporary emergence ‘but also because ofthe insights it offers into both the represenca ature of all ction and the trary history of che novelas ‘gente. By studying metafiction, one i,m effec, studying that ‘which gives the novel its identi Certainly mote scholarly ink has been spilt over attempts 10 define the novel than perhaps for any other literary genre: The ‘hovel notoriously defies definition. Tt instabiity inthis respect is part ofits ‘definition’ the language of tion appears to spill, ‘over into, and merge with, the nstablisiesof the eal world, na ‘way that fve-at waged) ora fourteen-line sonnet cleaely docs hot. Metaiction flaunts and exaggerate and thus exposes the foundations ofthis instability: the fact that novels ate con structed through a continous assimilation af everyday histor al forms of communication. There is no one privileged “an {guage offition’- There are the languages of memoirs, journals, ‘hares, histories, conversational registers, legal record, jou nalism, documentary. These languages compete for privilege ‘They question and eelativize eachother to such an exten that the “language of fiction’ is always, if often covertly, self ‘Mikhail Bakbein has refered to this proces of relativization asthe ‘dialog’ potential of the novel, Metaficton simply ‘makes this potential explicit and in so doing foregrounds the sential mode of all etonal language. Bakhtin defines a5 ‘overtly ‘dialog’ those novels that introduce a semantic direc tion into the word which ie diametrically opposed tits original direction... the word becomes the arena of conflict between ‘veo voices” (Bakhtin 1975, p. 106). Tn fact, given is close elation teveryday forms of discourse the language of fetion is© Metafiction always to some extent dialog, The novel assimilatesa variety of Aiscourses (representations of speech, forms of narrative) ‘iscourses that afnat to some extent question and relativize tach other's authority. Realism, often regarded as the clasic fitional mode, paradoxically functions by suppressing thi dialogue. The conflict of languages and voices is apparently resolved in realistic fiction through ther subordination tothe Aominant voice’ of the omniscient, godlike author. Novels ‘which Bakhtin refers to as ‘ialogie resist such resolution, Metafiction diplays and roeices in the impossibility of such a resolution and thus clearly reveals the base deity ofthe novel as genre, ‘Metaictional novels tend to be constructed on the principle ofa fundamental and sustained opposition: the construction ofa ‘tional lusion (asin wadidonal realism) and the laying bare ‘ofthat illusion, In other words, the lowest common denomina- tor of metafction is simultaneously to create a fiction and to make a statement about the creation of that fietion. The two processes are held together in a formal tension which breaks own the distinctions between “creation” and “riicisa” and merges them into the concepts of interpretation’ and ‘decom ‘Although this oppositional process i to some extent present in all fiction, and particularly likely to emerge during “crisis petiods in the literary history of the genre (see Chapter), 5 prominence in the comtemporary novelis unigue. The historical Period we are living through has been singularly uncertai Insecure, elf-questioning and cultorally pluralistic. Contem porary fiction clearly vefecs this dissatisfaction with, and Ereakdown of, traditional values, Previously, as in che case of rineteenth-century realm, the forms ofetion derived from 2 rm beliet in a commonly experienced, objectively existing ,, world of history. Modernist Getion, written in the ear part of this century, responded to the initial loss of belie im such 2 ‘world: Novels lke Vieginia Wool’s To the Lighthouse (1927) o¢ James Joyce's Une (1922) signalled the frst widespread, ‘vert emergence inthe novel ofa sense offictiiousness a sense that any attempt to represent realty could only produce selec: tive perspectives, fetone, that i, a an epistemological, not What is metafiction? 7 merely inthe conventional literary sense’ (Pfeifer 1978, p. 61), ‘Contemporary metafctonal writing s both a response and a ‘contribution to an even more thoroughgoing sense that reality ‘or history are provisional: no longer a world of eternal verities but a series ofconstrwctions, artifes, impermanent structures ‘The materialist, positivist and empiricist world-view on which realist fiction is premised no longer exists Ie is hardly surpeis ing, therefore, that more and more novelists have come to (question and reject the forms that correspond to this ordered reality (the wellmade plo, chronological sequence, the author- tative omniscient author, the rational connecion between ‘what characters ‘do" and what they ‘ae’, the causal connection beeween ‘surface’ details and the ‘dep’, “scientic laws’ ol existence) Why are they saying such awful things about it? ‘This rejection has inevitably entailed, however, a good deal of writerly and eritical confusion. There hasbeen paranoia, onthe part of both novelists ond critics for whom the exhaustion and Fejection of realism is synonymous with the exhaustion and ‘ejection ofthe novel tse Thus B.S. Johnson bursts into (or ‘out of?) Albert Anglo (194) with the words which preface this chapter, ‘Fuckallthislying- His commentservesin thenovelas much to voice a paranoid fear that his audience will misinter. ‘ret his fiction by reading it according to expectations based on the tradition of the realistic novel, as to demonstrate the ati fiiality of fictional form through a controlled metafictional discourse. Atthe end ofthe book he asserts ‘page i an area on which I place my signs I consider to ‘Communicate most clearly what T have to convey --there- fore I employ within the pocket of my publisher and the patience of my printer, typographical techniques beyond the Arbitrary and constricting limits ofthe conventional ove ‘To dismiss such techniques as gimmicis or to refuse 0 take them seriously i crasly to miss the point (Albert Angel, p. 178)WE 8 Metafiction 1 seas eather ike an anticipation f a hose review. A similar deemiveness about the rau he novelist appears in Bimalsartine hecho dr maery Chlzation’ Is expreaed through Jobe Barts characters “tho as much inthe sje of Sate a in tha of tere ~'de, Teng hema stones inthe dar desperstey atempang Sift ences which cam only disolve nto mecangeal staerigs (Lente Fe) Exeemedlesve [Rrateis ae commen. Kurt Vonnegut» Brats Changin {igys is meen to ens the sense a absaraty prec by stators pardoned easton hat Thave neue and that Tcan've witoutacultureanymaresp.15)Atemptsat tree Inui descrpon contol bak Gown. Cae {fgrams teplace language in order fo expres he poverty the altos? which avaliable trough representations of "The suategy of thi novel to ive the scene-fton coment wheehy human are depedstempting to com fen the proses ofan len worl. Here antemporary Rerscatsoiety the sen word Vonnegst dtaiaies thelwold that his weer for granted hough the teh iq afemploying ecEarhlingsarrtr whos now Ding (ls fren plane ad ha act tt expla’ Earth rt fBiow inhabitant. ‘The detmarzation has more than 2 ‘Stolefuncion, however. treveals Vonnegut own despairing ‘Reon ofthe shes py of providing» extige mony accepted cultura farm oepresentaton, om ith (ethan vey modes of representation. ‘Wh isthe noel do Here the nave’ narrative wee, apparent obi ah ous ier value ystema and mor Seles reveal though ss deamirising een thee afen Ii dame ssempions and consequences, Benes he Sting wah roprcsenatins of ows a beeburgers, weve, [tri tdesperte sense ofthe penile edundancy and ele ‘ance ofthe ari soappavet Vonnegut Slept Fe {ages Indeed, Bop Rot the Ameran nove, has “The American wer inthe mle ofthe went entry avi hunds lin ying tuners, serie andthe What is meafction? 9 Shes tnfrste, and nal steven ain ofembarra ‘ontinallyeudaing out lens {Quoted in Bradbury 197, 9-34) Tn cng away fom reality’, however, and back #0 2 reexaminatin of ftlonal frm, novels have discovered 3 Spring way out oink Gnas and paren, Metab ‘Sonal deeostrston bas no only provided vel and tht renders with beter understanding ofthe fundamen se teresa arate thas ale ered extremely accurate ade for undesanding the contemporary experience ofthe word st 2 conaucin, an are, 2 web of iterdependent setae Systems The paranaia that pomestesthemeacnal iting tthe sites and seventies hee slowly giving way 8 Selbration, othe dacoery of new forme othe faa, {Slaton ‘earavaganeay, stage Teall (Salman Reshde Gainit Garis Masquer Cie Scar Grsham Swi DM Thomas, Job ving). Novela andere aie have comet eae aa oment of ercan aso be een momen ‘cogitonrengiton that aioagh the suum sot ‘Retin an enn fs leet view ofthe world may no lnge be ible he novel oe PrsnelySourhing Despite th renee opinion, however, ial the case hath uncertain sclerdlive naar oexjrimental mesa {ion wil eve i open to cried aac Yt mean Simply aang bat inte ofa none: heir outeanding Fre to chose’ (Fowles oy) Te ts sal ‘penne and enti which hs alowed the noel tema iyo survive and dap oscil changer teat 00 ear inthe cea politcal, cotaral sod tcbologl spose {n racy since he Second World War, homesick o ‘hed sendy ha ow the novel vers, ce ave daca te so env nd he “deathof the nove” Inted of recogising the ponte aspects of Alona sel-conscinmnesy, hey hve ted fev Mer ty bch aa fr ofthe selndulgees and decadence ‘hurts ofthe haut a any ta farm geero Metafetion Could isnot he argueintead that metavonal writes highly ‘omsciou oth problems ofsrttltinacy, simpy sensed 2 feed forthe move to theorize about eel? Only thie way ‘igh the genre esblch am aonty and ality within a ‘alae apparently boxe cis prind near narrative and ‘Screcnstral sumptions abut pot characte authority SU repreoentatn?, The tana Betanal quest hat thax ‘een edna ino ques for etonsy -Metaition andthe contemporary avant-garde “This search has boon free modeated by save responses Ganoths femur oconempoary ctrl ie theabsence ‘leay dened sane garde suvement. The Sxstence fan Aprecedemed callus plraim has meant that pst Imalern writers are aot enone withthe same enc [Bary fom cannot eaabln isef ae pew ieeuon anes 3 Sense of shared sina and sbjestives develops among. e FPermental writs This hat btn slow ake shape in recent Seam An argument orginally adeanced by Lice! Teling 0 pd Cie iio) strc orld rain ‘geste one reson thi ha the unathng sf tbe yo ‘al bourgeois bebe nthe matetal and moral progress of Setzatin (Grats pg) hasbeen so thoroughly secon ‘led by modern tha he erestive tension produced by Spposing thir ‘bourgeois Beli o longer eal avaiable Tieightecth- and ietenth-century Bt ity aly eed the socal rte ‘hough bly relasonhip, marrage, tho the ata ‘Tssolaton of death). Toler Rtn the sgl foe ‘evwnal selonany canbe cate onl through option Eibuing cal inutons and coovenons he strogse ‘ectnsyinvolvesindvdual aienaion and fen eas ith ‘renal discus, The power rrscter ol nepoar soley Sehomever, moe diese spd more eleevly concealed of Imvnied, erating greater problems forthe pstmederst What is metafcton? 38 ova in, identifying ad then representing the object of “opposition Rtarona writers hve found olaton otis unig inwardstotheirown medivm ofexpenion, inorder ening the reaoosipBerween fon bem and socal ey. They have come to cu om the noon that “everyday abguage tore and sais such power acares trough 2 er {tous proces of naturalization whereby me of eppreson ‘ze contracted in apparennly innocent representations, The Treaneteionaleqelatoro the everyday language o coe ‘on coe ithe ngage othe tridoal ave te conven ‘Sons of realm. Metaficoon set op th oppose, ot 0 meray obec hes ihe ve wor ote a ong ofthe li novel which hes etd and edoraed "The menial novel shu situs ie esitance wit the form ofthe noel tale Saunure dtingished heoeen ange tnd are beeen te language ste at fs) nd ay india sterance that aks pace within thse Exch metacnal nove selon sets inetd pends th nar ihe eran convention) of the noel fain, Ostentaousy aera” language and conventions ae paraded re se agua te agent vation cata odes, nt beaupe there thay tt tata, Dt Utcate the mal seructtes of thee Merry conventions proud a tatment abou the aisociation bec, one one Aad genuine seme fer aleton nd opps sion incontemporay socey sd on the other te conte ‘tteadscnalEterry fos like aon ni seo one ‘Adaqate vehi rhe sian a ths epeione Meta thn thas conver what ers asthe neprine ales oouworh theray conventions nto the bane o's potently conse Sneath ny here may ema lesen rm setting the tron eacupoiownlinguticor ‘epresertasonal svete se om dey eng up to 2 Iypotiesal human natre’ hat some tna anenece cutie hse systems of orcltion “The problem fang weitere who attempt authencally 10 repreen condiins tape ail change et they mayaBy 12 Metafietion {hemacves produce work of at which a ephemeral and ven {Bl Ine presen atunin even sage work wl be Sateen grounds for delving 2 syle dhe, exhausted URochberg tay p72), The pracionrs of scaled latory rv which tespute be uly random norderto suggest the ‘hao eset aig tren of sempre ch ogi ces) are open othe charges Literary teas end {ofunedon by preserving «balance betwen the far (the Innovator) a the familie (he conventional or tational) Both are necessary beau Some degree of redundancy 3 ‘Suelo any message to be commited to memory. Reda ‘Bong povided form ear texts though the presence af familar Crmentons, Expect eton of the seston var fy eschews such redundancy by spy iguring the conven ‘lhsuftcrary taditon Such eset torent the eal procowes of rading memry ad andcranding, but without Fedundancy sete rad and ngs Tey not vite {rm lvary nove Reeae they ext ly a0 te moment af reaing “The metfctolreapons othe problem of how repre sent impermanence adsense of cos inthe permanent aed ‘dered terme of erature ba bad ech more sighfcant Inoeace onthe devloprent a the povel as gene Alatony ‘tring might init te experience oivingie te contempor Uy woedisbark ls oo any ofthe eomore wad opie by Inerryfeson through a sense of ah ending” [Remade ffi), MetaSesnn, however les bh innovation ind fala, tvough te val rowerking and unde. ‘Aleioy writing spy responds wih reply in kind tthe pluralist hyperacive malay fae tat conaite the Etaces of present-day cate Whatismanyascrecd such tuves oat anrche odiadalio, a randomines designed 6 ‘preentanavdance of social contr! by tresing he Sm [pusiisyofchlycategoring or ansiating the reader © Enilne actors ofcommumieaion. An agument soins proposed ost he strstees of ch tons that hey ate ada because they ruptre the conventional linguist on ‘tects tha ety aor daguiseothodor scl pent (at What is metafcton? 13, realism, fr example, certfes concepts ie “eeral human ‘ature or the anerpan chat authority as anfeed through the omen uther somehow fe of both gener itn ths and of hiertaly comsracted tnd provsonal. moral ‘values: Soch noel saposedly expose the way in which hese toni prnctte are coetected rough te language ef Dresv delogis, by refurngt allow the reader the role of Dasive consumer or any means of arog s¢3 total interes Shon eftetet, “ "Although i eve that snc ofthis should undobedy be the tat af experimental tion, dacs sem questionable thee for many rear, svcd alestoy wing 8 gn a thio. Novel ie John Fowles's Tl Pech mor Robert Coe? Pring ad Dent (ago) hough apparently es radical, are inthe ong un Tay to be more voce Both are metafitonal ment that they employ paced scons Both take a te ‘ject agunges the trues of ninceeth-cenary rea Stdot hited romance or of Grate. The parody of hee $anguage fonctions to delaariae such structresby sting Upuanovcounersechnigaertoundermine he author athe ‘mint autor, ofthe sure of the inal ening the ‘Stine iteration. Alduough the reader is thereby de face om the Language the Levey conventions an ul ‘aay, rom conventional eso, the detain ation pro ‘rae Yim av extremely fama ae. Soc novel a a {ialy be compresended trough the a ractares, and ea therclore beenjoyed and remain the corarouses aa we ‘eadetip whch a given afar more ace le inthe constr ‘Son f the "maning’ ofthe text than Is provided ther ‘coterporay reli povce or im novels which convert she Fenders ne Yeats human weed proceso and whch st ‘nly astong ai takes tovead her “The misror upto art: metaitlon and its varieties [remain within this introductory chap, bre to examine tome alteoaie definitions of weeonsciun wring Thee Smlar modes have ben varcua termed "the nove Sey14 Metafiction ove ‘the antinove, ‘iam’, ‘suri’, the st geting nen A he neta’ ply « Languages al fer dierent perspectives onthe sate proces Bat he terms abit the emphasis ilerent ways The Sele geting nove, fr example x decribed ss an ‘account Untlly Hest penn, ofthe development af character point Stocich he able to ake up and eompors the novel we have jtfnshed reading’ eliman 157, p. 45). The emacs “nthe development ofthe nara om he dene ence a tans athe tha te pos modernist one of en (as Insfor example, Andre Gies Tr Carter (993) “Te enury ofthe narrator th eat nalio a deingfeacare ofthat hasbeen called urtion Raymond Federmat's ok ‘that name dtc the mode in terms of overt narrator thon Sha aie ageting coc he fs 2 over levels ofthe oie text Telling ainda sve ion, spontaneous ate expec enereal ely ‘eltray train emphased rater than bat ha boc ‘eesed above: metictons continuous iavlvement it~ and ‘mediation of realy through linguist suacttes and pre= Arde ou, metas writing may cade {enna that ave base menoned. Diftent cere in et tite compecorthetame bona ext Joba Barth Lathe Funk (r68) iceary sleeping’ soon ad subsgente ofthe novelas tendency mir the novel mich ‘pertcs through exaggeration ofthe emis sad opporisons ‘herent in all novels frame and fame break fteeigue itsion Acai un expres overly what Wham (Gaor sarge theditmna fll ar I every att two contradictory implies are in state of Marichcan wa the impulse to communicate ad go wteest thermedinm oeommumteason a means andthe ipalse What is metafction? 15, make an artefact ou of the materiale and so 40 et the ‘etiamas an end (exsst970) ‘Theexpression ofthis tension present in much contemporary wing batts the doin uncon nthe eat defined ere ‘etafetonal ‘Themettcons forge Las Borges and ViadimirNabokow itarte tpn In sme othe woth ~ Borge aby (cab) sod Neboko's Par Pre (rg) for example - Beton ‘ply maguerade at formaliaed cal serpeation, 10 Poker week, however, a in all ther meta, there 3 ‘ore complex mpi interdependence af evel than thi, The ‘ener in aeays presented eh embedded sat wich cot ‘der the presuppositions ofthe sata inane atove or Briow The fetal cou ofthe sry continually rested By somal existence as text, ad the exten that eat ‘wens world teed in crafty Brian Mea Eattuggeted tha sucheomreditons ae eeaaly nlp (Pei ios st he pare and ene ad frat tone pital contradiction which question bow see can know a realty hove estence Bally ot im doubt ‘cHale oencoming), Borges! imagia’y Kingdom Tn, discovered by the ort sxe conjuncson of 8 miro and an eneyclopaed’ i «post ‘Poder wold. ets wices Beton becateltn suggested at Istria iovenon by Borges tar ead bensevented by 3 Secret society feasts inclsding Buhop Berkley, an boy course, are fly dependent spon te conventions of the ‘Shoe story (Lay p29). The fet theta ‘wold ean take oer the rea oneemphaies moe than the (Putomlalsncraity of tat heb would be the ‘io te selcbegeting nove). Tlie Usbae Orbis Tere ‘heey ieabours soy tae vents iaginary word rd {primarily and se-consciusly ia story why ike all ste, Intent an agiary work: pies hat hunan eng uy over achive 2 metaphor fer realy, another taper a Yaterpretion’ (Borger story “Funes the Memoria” (964) ‘Now that ts need hot be cane for drier indeed oti 16 Metafetion old 9ot create these metaphorical images then we woul all Sorel bese insane) Metical ove (one nction othe begin novel) thn ree the rao gre ofthe autor 8 transcendental imagination farang hough alate) mono disous,atrctres of ode wick wil replace the [Bngotn matera veto wor, They tow moony ha the “author iva concept pravced tough pres 2nd ening trary and social xt but hat what genera ak 0 BE "eatin ao conseted and mediated ar hon “aly” isto th extent Sonal and can be undetond Thoogh an spropite eading proces ‘Ato rete the apacoment af istic man by “srctral man’ advocated by Roe Sols the bai wt he calle ablation” Scholes Tons) David Lodge has printed out that ‘history nay be i 2 piloophical ssa Fett, bat idaer no fe like hat wen wee 4 tn of shy ss at Ane eae ela bono ‘Meru cogitivelneiontoosate within nerdy at well within phloophica prsdiges o expan te hatoeal Sovid at wel 0 oer some Srl comfort and can Stes argues th he empirical a lows ay ae that talustn betecen the phlanphie snd he yet bx of ‘ahicallycomraled tare the ony ntaheatc tose for Feton (Scholes tg, p 1). However, tation ots te Tregrton wot atthe everyday har cated tomate, bu at ‘Stemntion ough sil andctoral codes ngs itconet {the philnopieal nd mythithan wazonce ase Arie comparson af no sel-oasios nove one obvious ly metaeonl, theater more obo fabulatary shows Nowmetaton explores the concept of sonal theaph a ‘pporton berwccy te conta andthe cain ole Sen, whe abuinion seas nnead what Cree Broke Hove {tg} har reered to a4 sedaced tension Berween technique and counerseeigu: «slat? which cable ther ice wb amine, ber tan pening contro Mare Spark's mht! novel bar te proces of imping frm vpn catngent mater rough the dcrve What is metafction? 17 cegaizaion of po. She can, however, as David Loge has Sd of Joye, aford her metaphors Right beaune f the ably other metonync base [Ladera pst) heute: ier fightin ac tocommenton een paseign tht ey sein the procas of contracting [his emboding of tat of ‘oure, beng fandamenal to meat). In Nt fo Dish (Gop), fOr example, thi highly obtrusive sine describes 3 Meanwhile he ighining which sie the clamp of ls 20 ‘atthe wofrcndshudded there are led eatany without pigs actos he as lminatingthelypond ad the sunken foe garden lke a slltacken Mach pot: raphe, and ie anplastene ppd om garment by ‘xual mania, (0.85) “This appears to be a pee of bight spied dcrpive prove imarke partially by the appearance of extremely bare ‘Retphors Tot tnt try aro Rihard Brat us aay onl ra ing nama (16), whic [eiosmiar metaphorical consractons where te extreme Polar ofsehilead tenor imply emindsthe reader ofthe fay in which metaphor construct sage of tea by Connecting spparendy quite disparate objet Te this nove, for ‘rampie fwt ae deve wang ncaa" srplane Shed" ig 70, aa te vender’ imagine cched throughout bythe ncongraly athe conparsons. The sovels ‘Celebration ofthe create imagination it ns ulation? ‘In the Spark example, however, there is forter, mote sabe nel tas pat fasted tata dpa fore video the metaphor expe rete o lat & bpp a the congo unling evel a the try. A {Eup of cnvepreoanal and enterprising servant, have [Strange she fiingofthe las momentsofanctral angie of Siperatnuntedarocrats,Theseranshnow the maney are ‘Resta sandals provide excelent matte or meiner ‘onal, The photerapher and hep enc (which the ‘penal dent acrat on conta tempos18 Metafction Fi fin he excitement of his interment sexual energy) are important clemens the pes belng contac byte tue (eho aoa im the expe, ages appropriate cima Condon) snd, of care’ bythe chaaccn, Toe reader Steed tothe way nhc epic artical eomstrction ‘tthe conncos isin with the ager designs of he novel ‘ying Gods The cements a the states leet othe Estacion breakdown not it hateral er anol chosen sepa ate le of ac te eel te plot The reader i ths remade that pe contingent te sovel i alway an ison, ahogh the lows eve te flce {what the Rossan format Bors Tomes hat felerrtone reat motsatonsee Lem and Ree 9p 1-30) eaeumed enteral. Tue noc ony dee charac ia novel ys, tina’ erm eo ‘lot they ton are etonalisc ees hough te formal Intact othe poe * Metficin exp ays bare the canvemon of rains it oes not ignore or abandon ther. Very sen reali oem. typ thn esa ex eno chground agit hich he xpermetalsegre canes ‘rand temaeve More sbieay, of cute th lw fo Stable evel of eatery familar thot whieh te coin Alocation mgt be cher tly meanings ors ode ‘he novmal modes of ieray or nowiteraty communes thatthe cannot ‘be cami fo memery ihe phen already dicomed,of much ceatenporary leat tog Beatin then, doa not sudan th eal word he natesistie plates of the imagination What Wt oes 16 fevxamine the conventions of rei ander o discover thru ts own sltcetion tonal fore sat car ally elvan and somprebeebl to contemporary reer Showing us be ierary etn center aglay weld ‘netafition haps ufo tadersudow the ely ve ey Byam maractedry oe ‘MetfctonB ths ao eae ern which covers a wide range of fection, There te those nove at ont ee he ‘Spectrum which ake Retinal a thereto Be explored and inthis sense would inca he selcbrgeing noel). eine What is metafction? 19 work of Iris Murdoch or Jery Kosi, woe formal sl ‘hmslgunesistimied A‘the cen ofthis perm re thve fen thet maniest the symptoms of femal and ontlgel {farcry ucalow thei decnrroctions oben ecotex ‘alee or natured and given aol eterpetatin which ott terres new teal), a8 ne work of John Fowles oc EL. Dectorm, Final, atthe fret exteme {hich woul isle fablaton) cn be placed tre fons that in oettng yerom more oraugly, post the word INS dbctuion of tompetngsemioue ssi which ever Seren to mae Conon, 2 inthe work of Gilbert Souretin, Kayincad Federman or Chai Brooke Rose. ‘ch Beh Reon ts heat a fhe apc, tough prblemaaly sod mach American i ite the thet ha thea athe ne provi The noel ahr end however conning he yecblen hatter mt ‘imac pace with rea, eat smh cop Fea" (Dekinaon 1975p 72) ~ hs acknowledged he at {Hans ray lenge one mend by seen ntury eels and expatsenced by ibetentbeentaty ens {Su lnc, cold beseged that, a om dying he novel os reached manure sedgaiton oft exten a eg {akakeanonl ensures cmt subi nandrelveneto Tonemporey werd which slay begining torn Sltene? ef precy how te values and practi ee ‘Nhu and egiiminedIN THE SAME SERIES, Linguistics and the Novel Roe Foe Canguageand Sie EL pce Subculture The Meaning ov Dick Hebdge ‘SchocePction Tis Crim and Teaching Pais Purine ‘Thesemiovcaof Then snd Drama Ker Elem Translation Stoies Sun Bet McCue Fantsy'The iterate of Sobversion Rowman Jaion Structuralin snd Semiotics Tove Harker Ciel Practice» Carne Ba Formalin sid Marnoy Poy emt Reading Televison "fot Fue an Joe Her ReReading Engh Eddy Per Wide Decontnacton Tang and Frat" Crtphr Noi Only sod Lerty Wala Ong oct ar Discourse Ani Bee ‘Nara Factions Contemporary Pot “Sion mon Kens Recxpion Theory Aral Ineodvction Metafiction “The Theory and Practice ofS. Conscious Fction PATRICIA WAUGH METHUI London and New YorkNae” nay raaa Wt ‘Paty ning Psp Lt Sosa ‘Sete age Pa ieee Tepe ‘Sv ry Pa owe angi Contents oer ers preface Ackeledgoet ‘Wha ismetaition and why are they saying uch tefl things abou Wits met Nejad te ro adie Ine thy sping chen ngs ha ‘Metin tnd te topo ot ae. ‘Tmo sp too mtn dt ate Madera te aon “The aalyis of frames: melaficion and ome-breaing Ply ge on mento Tiga aera Tednopent ft Thema aes: cain pes rte Thetwof plefors oan