Metafiction

1. INTRODUCTION In the 21st century there was an emerging movement of art Postmodernism (Palmer 2014). Postmodernism was derived from its predecessor modernism (Palmer 2014). Palmer (2014) stated that postmodernism has too many complex ideologies and cannot be defined. Nevertheless, there was a claim by Nicolas Bourriaud that postmodernism has ended and divided to post-postmodernism (Altermodern 2009). The following essay will contrast against Bourriaud’s claim. It will provide brief historical…

Hosseini, the story of an Afghan boy and his road to redemption; Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis, a story of a borderline autistic boy living in Greenbow, Alabama and his life journey; The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a work of metafiction, tells the story of a group of men in the same regiment and their accounts in the Vietnam war - all show how parents/guardians influences affect one’s life. Parents/guardians influence the outcome of…

is a novel written by Ian McEwan and first published in 2001. Atonement might be considered an historical novel since most part of the book is set in England and in France before, during and after World War II, but it is most often considered a metafiction novel. Many events of Atonement are related to events that really happened during World War II: fought between 1939 and 1945, the Second World War has been certainly the most terrible war to be fought in history and the number of casualties…

In America, Realism is a literary movement or school of thought that avoided melodrama and emphasized verisimilitude. Subjects were taken from everyday life and authors placed a heavy emphasis on characters as real people influenced by environment and circumstances. Realism can be broadly defined as being faithful when representing reality or verisimilitude. It is a literary technique important to the school of thought. Realism encompasses the period in which Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Stephen…

Extended Essay Topic Question: How does Salman Rushdie use magical realism in order to explore the links between India and his childhood in the book Midnight’s Children? Abstract Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is an intricately intractable attempt at capturing the erratic parallel life of the protagonist, Saleem and the political rise and fall of India. The question I aim to answer is: How does Salman Rushdie use magical realism in order to explore the links between India and his…

Every author has their own unique writing style. Kurt Vonnegut’s just so happens to be very effective. The unique pairing of black humor, social satire, and science fiction make the stories of Kurt Vonnegut both intriguing and effective. His way of satirizing contemporary society using themes such as war, sex, and death makes his stories bluntly honest. To verify the assumption made, three novels were read. The novels include: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions.…

end up feeling truer than the truth itself? In the short story anthology, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explores the reality and uncertainties of the Vietnam War through fictional stories based on his own experiences. Often described as “metafiction,” O’Brien makes statements throughout his work about the construction of war stories and the role that truth plays within them. In the aptly named piece, “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien details what he believes distinguishes a…

Interviewer: Atonement is partly about guilt. You’ve said that a novel can look at all sides of a question and it can refuse to take sides. Nevertheless we are encouraged in Atonement to take sides, partly because the narrator turns out to have been part of the story, and is therefore partial. What is the significance that the ‘atonement,’—the nearest Briony, as a non-believer, can get to ‘atonement’—may be inaccurate? Ian McEwan: May I ask you a question? What makes you think the…

3. Bleeding Edge: waiting to be reassembled The ‘Word’ is definitely an interesting concept in The Crying of Lot 49, simply because of the myriad of analyses and meanings it received (cf. Grant 2008; Schaub 2013). What perhaps then is even more intriguing is its reappearance in Pynchon’s latest novel, Bleeding Edge, almost half a century later: ‘[Maxine is talking in DeepArcher to an enigmatic woman, after September 11. The woman says:] “Only here to have a look. Find out how long I can stay…

Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle is a feminist metafiction novel; within its pages a collage of multiple narratives explore the gender politics of the world inhabited by its protagonist, Joan Delacourt / Foster. The novel starts at its end, Joan has faked her death in order to escape and create a new life. Beginning at the end implies this is Joan’s next novel, therefore the character representations are subject to her narrative position. Embedded within Atwood’s exterior narrative, Joan’s memory…