Interpretation of metafiction

The Chinese word "Yuan" has been used since Zhouyi, and Fan Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period put forward that "Yuan is the foundation of all things". It can be seen that the "yuan" in Chinese is similar to the "yuan" in ancient Greek. Therefore, just as we call "language about language" such as grammar and semiotics about language laws and structures "meta-language", "meta-novel" should be a novel about novels, that is, a novel text that reveals the laws of novels in the form of novels. The impulse source, creative process, stylistic norms and moral sustenance of the novel have all become the objects of the novel text. In metafiction, the integrity and self-sufficiency pursued by traditional novel texts have been broken, so Irving gherman uses "breaking the frame" to mean the basic features of metafiction. In short, the so-called meta-novel is a novel that directly turns narrative behavior into narrative content and takes itself as the object.

In China's early storytelling and storytelling tradition, there is an element that emphasizes the narrator's narration, such as Speak of the Cao Cao. Early European novels also have a mode of self-exposure narrative behavior, such as Chaucer's works. On the other hand, David Lodge thinks that the earliest metanovel is Stein's Biography of Shandi, which shows the existence of narrative behavior in the form of dialogue between the narrator and the imaginary reader. This novel, which reveals the mystery and tendency of the novel, was named "experimental novel" by Brooke Ross, "super novel" by Adler in 1976, and "foreign novel" by Luo Ze in the same year. The word "meta-novel" began to be recognized around 1980. However, according to Rudiger's investigation, the "metafiction" in the early 1980s was still in its infancy. By the end of 1980s, "a large number of ambitious critics and scholars had entered this field, which now belongs to the basic principles of literature." As a new form, it is normal for metafiction writers to arouse curiosity and concern, but what critics and scholars are really interested in is the great energy of metafiction: it breaks the superstition of "truth", dismantles the authoritative position of realism, and mercilessly exposes the falsity and deception of realism. In David Lodge's words, metafiction focuses on the fictional identity of the novel. By revealing its own production process, metafiction shows that fiction is fiction and reality is reality, and there is an insurmountable gap between them. Revealing the gap between art and life is a function of metafiction. However, the separation of narrative and reality makes the text no longer an accessory of reality, the framework of text interpretation no longer comes from reality, and the meaning of the text is no longer a "reflection" of reality, but from pure narrative behavior, so the text has unprecedented autonomy and is completely liberated from the bondage of reality and truth.

(Lin Xiuqin's Meta-novel)