Metafictions

This book offers an introduction to a literary phenomenon lauded by academic readers and critics but which many find impenetrable or exasperating: "metafiction", the fiction that is about writing fiction. "Metafictions?" argues that reflexivity is not a marginal or derivative phenomenon but a function central to all literary language. Neither is it a specifically contemporary (postmodern) concern, but the body of literary theory which has recently centred around it has produced an increased awareness of the insights it has to offer on the nature of literary communication. "Metafictions?" explains the theoretical framework from which reflexivity is examined. It introduces national literatures not previously included in this tradition and brings up to date the bibliography of both primary and secondary sources related to metafiction.