Following John Barth’s (1967) essay ‘The Literature
of exhaustion’, Waugh (1995) is a later critic who demonstrates how metafiction
can relate to the self-hood by acknowledging what is real and what is a convection
of reality.
When examining metafiction and self-consciousness, Waugh (1995) propounds "...their novels have tended to embody dimensions of self-reflexivity and formal uncertainty" (p.2). In other words, when a writer constructs a piece of literature, they are purposely challenging the reader’s questionability of the self-hood. Therefore, metafiction is present in many aspects of fiction if not all. For example, poststructuralist critics such as John Barth promote self-referentiality in their fictionalised pieces of work, which we will later see in ‘Lost in the Funhouse’. Correspondingly, Orlowski (1995) states “Metafictional novel gains significance beyond its fictional realms by outwardly projecting its inner self-reflective tendencies” (Line 52). Therefore, the purpose of metafiction is to become real by not pretending to be real.
Furthermore, it can be argued that metafiction is
able to question reality in relation to fiction. In other words, there is a
distinct boundary between the ordinary world and the fictional world.
Therefore, it is essential to have some signification between the two realms
(Currie 1995). Correspondingly, Waugh (1995) states "...they also explore
the possible fictionality of the world outside the literary fictional
text" (p.2). This implies that it is possible to examine the ordinary
human existence in a realm that does not exist in the expected fictions of
literature. Therefore, it can be argued that metafiction has a focus on the
representations and forces in the real world. This implies that questionability
is drawn to the audience with regards to how they see the world. In addition,
interrogation of how the reader conveys themself can take place. For example,
"Metafiction pursues such questions through its formal self-exploration,
drawing on the traditional metaphor of the world as a book..."(Waugh 1995:3).
This demonstrates how there is no longer a discrete sense of a fictional world.
Furthermore, it can be argued that this factor is what creates the uncertainty.
In my opinion, this technique draws the reader’s attention to question the
construct of their own identity based upon fictional status. Therefore,
metafictional literature engages with the external world by allowing its
readers to criticise the general necessities of everyday life. In other words,
metafiction attempts to outline and challenge how literature has contributed to
the construction or oppression of individuals.
On the other hand, metafiction can only be created
if the reader has an active mind and physically engages with the ink inside of the
novel. For example, Waugh (2003) states “Characters in fiction are, of course,
literally signs on a page before they are anything else” (p.56). In this
respect, I agree with Barthe’s (1968) essay on ‘The death of the author’
because the reader must actively participate in the reading of a text in order
for the text to fulfil its potential. In
other words, a character in a novel cannot become an author or a reader within
the fictional world, unless the audience is in constant engagement. In my
opinion, this demonstrates how each reader may be allowed to create a divergent
interpretation because, there is no fixed response to language.
Overall, I believe that an individual will bring
their own awareness and understanding to the text. Therefore, Waugh (1995)
signifies that there cannot be a fixed clarification of reality. In other
words, an individual will construct their reality differently based upon the
selfhood.
