Literary self-consciousness: developments

In addition, Waugh (1995) also detects that metafiction is applicable to language. For example, "Language is an independent, self-contained system which generates its own 'meanings'" (p.3). When examining Waugh's argument, I believe that the following image will help to visualize how meaning can be created in relation to the arbitrary linguistic system.

(Dr. Thorsten Trippel ND)

This implies that when an individual is attempting to use language to coincide with how the world can be represented, the individual will come to realise that this task cannot be completed (Waugh 2003). Furthermore, Currie (1995) supports Waugh (2003) because he establishes how metafiction obtains a sense of designation to the idea of constructed meanings rather than representable essences. In other words, metafiction has the intention to challenge meaning. Likewise, it has the intention to criticise how representations and ideologies are constructed through language.

In comparison, Bakhtin establishes language to be known as “Not a neutral medium that passes freely and easily into the private property of the speaker's intentions; it is populated -- overpopulated with the intentions of others” (HoneyCutt 1994: Line25). In other words, all individuals have access to the same arbitrary system. Therefore, an expression or thought that an individual is wishing to express cannot become personal because the word is technically universal. In other words, the language system is owned by everyone. Similarly, an individual can regenerate a word from this arbitrary system in relation to their understanding. This implies that to a certain extent language can become personal.

Furthermore, Bakhtin argues that

       … the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal language . . . but rather it exists in other people's mouths, in other people's contexts, serving other people's intentions: it is from there that one must take the word, and make it one's own (HoneyCutt 1994:Line27).

This implies that language does not have to refer to an object. Furthermore, in relation to the arbitrary association of sound and image, attention is drawn to the formal organization of words and not the referential potential (Waugh 2003). Therefore, I agree with Waugh (2003) on the basis that “Metafictional texts often take a theme of frustration caused by attempting to relate their linguistic condition to the real world” (p.53). In other words, metafictional texts capture the reader’s attention during the process of construction. Correspondingly, it can be argued that metafictional texts accomplish this task by frustrating the reader in relation to the conventional expectations of meaning. However, it can be argued that it is the conventions of literary realism that are frustrated (Waugh 2003).

Moving forward, Waugh (2003) states “Metafiction is constructed through frames” (p.29). In other words, it is impossible to distinguish where one frame starts and another ends (Waugh 2003). In other words, it can be argued that a frame narrative leads readers from the first story into the next. Similarly, there may be multiple stories. Therefore, it is up to the reader to distinguish which story they are in and where they are in the narrative (Burton ND). In comparison, Waugh (2003) argues that “… overt frames involve a confusion of ontological levels through the incorporation of visions, dreams, hallucinatory states and pictorial representations which are finally indistinct from the apparently ‘real’” (p.31). This implies that there are narrative layers. In other words, there is a story within a story in which one character in the narrative narrates themself. Similarly, in the narrative layers there will be aspects of metalepsis. When exploring metalepsis, Burton (ND) identifies that it will be a reference to something such as a person, object or emotion by means of another article that is remotely related to it. This implies that there is a deconstructive element to metafiction. Therefore, metafictional narratives enhance the reader’s outlook of the everyday world. Similarly, it is possible for the reader to stimulate ideas in relation to reality (Waugh 2003).