/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.18248271]

What's the point of metafiction? I see lots of postmodern authors use this: Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Italo Calvino. And it's not just literature; lots of movies and cartoons constantly refer to themselves, like the films of Mel Brooks or the short Duck Amuck. To me, metafiction seems like some stupid gimmick, a weirdness for weirdness sake. I find this especially true in 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveler'; a book about the reader reading the book is a cute idea, but beyond that there's no substance. How does metafiction add to the work?

[Anonymous No.18249472]

>>18248271
Sometimes it is just used as a different way to tell a story, sometimes it is used to support the theme or to place the theme in context, sometimes authors are just having fun with it, sometimes it is just a gimmick. A story can be boiled down to theme, plot, and structure/style, metafiction is just one way of increasing the importance of structure and style. It's purpose depends on the work, overall it gives the author some added control over the readers perception of the story.

If you want more concrete answers you would do well to pick a work and start a thread on it asking about how the metafictional elements contribute to the work, do a few different works over a few different weeks, or just start a thread asking anons for their favorite examples and what they feel it adds to the work.

[Anonymous No.18250487]

It works if it's something like The Dark Tower or Call of the Crocodile kinda stuff. A genre that works best in horror. Like the Truman Show for example. Fiction where the tension/suspense relies on the character questioning their reality.

[Anonymous No.18251570]

>>18248271
Are you seriously asking this question?