Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 7, 2024 2:39:31 GMT
So, this novel is about a character who is trying to write a novel. (He's very much failing so far). To me, this calls for some critical attention, as Norman Mailer was certainly very aware of this intersecting plot line while he himself was trying to write Barbary Shore.
Here's three different terms that have to do with a situation like this. Which do you think applies-- and how does that help us understand the novel we're reading?
Metafiction: a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story-telling, and works of metafiction directly or indirectly draw attention to their status as artifacts. Metafiction is frequently used as a form of parody or a tool to undermine literary conventions and explore the relationship between literature and reality, life, and art.
Kunstlerroman: (German: “artist’s novel”), class of Bildungsroman, or apprenticeship novel, that deals with the youth and development of an individual who becomes—or is on the threshold of becoming—a painter, musician, or poet
Poioumenon: A specific type of metafiction in which the story is about the process of creation (sometimes the creation of the story itself).
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poioumenon
Here's three different terms that have to do with a situation like this. Which do you think applies-- and how does that help us understand the novel we're reading?
Metafiction: a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story-telling, and works of metafiction directly or indirectly draw attention to their status as artifacts. Metafiction is frequently used as a form of parody or a tool to undermine literary conventions and explore the relationship between literature and reality, life, and art.
Kunstlerroman: (German: “artist’s novel”), class of Bildungsroman, or apprenticeship novel, that deals with the youth and development of an individual who becomes—or is on the threshold of becoming—a painter, musician, or poet
Poioumenon: A specific type of metafiction in which the story is about the process of creation (sometimes the creation of the story itself).
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poioumenon
