how meta is metafiction on AskMetafilter?

November 16, 2007 6:30 AM

metalanguage in a second-semester Composition class -- suggested readings.

I am teaching a themed Composition class in the Spring, and I was wondering what suggestions you might have in terms of readings.

The focus of the class will be on metafiction, metapoetry, and filmic texts, postmodern literature, hypertext, expressive typography, et cetera.

I'm limited to three or four longer works, and I'm considering Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods as a first (introductory) reading.

I also briefly considered Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, but ultimately, it's too long and too much for a low-level Comp. class.

I have also considered the E2 list Books that will induce a mindfuck, as there are a lot of texts there that would fit in, but I (obviously) need to narrow this down.

I need ideas, the more the better. Shorter readings are also fine: articles, essays, poems, etc.

posted by exlotuseater to Writing & Language (17 answers total)

It might be stretching it, but "The Courier's Tragedy" in The Crying of Lot 49 just might qualify it as meta-fiction, plus it's short.*

*And enjoyable.
posted by drezdn at 6:54 AM on November 16, 2007

Borges for sure. Italo Calvino: If on a winter's night a traveler, Castle of Crossed Destinies. Milorad Pavic: Dictionary of the Khazars. Ursula Le Guin: Always Coming Home. (that's a long one, but it's not necessary to read the whole thing, and I really, really loved it.) Shelley Jackson. Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto? (Probably too hard, it was tough for me as a senior English major.) Vannevar Bush's essay "As We May Think" for historical background and a bonus information science angle.

(This list is mostly cribbed from a hypertext lit/digital culture class I took in college about six years ago - as a senior, like I said, but I also read Calvino in high school - I'm sure some of it could work.)

Would some cummings or Apollinaire's Calligrammes work for expressive typography? I see there are bilingual editions of Apollinaire, which I think would be super fun to read, extra fun for any of your students who read French.
posted by clavicle at 6:56 AM on November 16, 2007

Best answer: "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity"
posted by fake at 6:59 AM on November 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

Crying of Lot 49 is indeed enjoyable. Some other metafiction selections would be Monty Python and the Holy Grail (specifically the scene where the police bust the filming of the movie); A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; and Don Quixote.
posted by daviss at 7:06 AM on November 16, 2007

Jeff Noon's Automated Alice comes to mind. And Mark Dunn's Ibid, a novel told through footnotes to a "lost" manuscript. Both fun reads.
posted by archimago at 7:06 AM on November 16, 2007

Borges was what I thought of. The short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius would seem to fit.
posted by DarkForest at 7:07 AM on November 16, 2007

One of my absolute favorite works of metafiction is Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, which is reasonably short.

Even shorter would be a couple of Borges's Fictions, which do some truly demented things with metafiction (consider the one about writing the Quixote).

Of course, that brings up the greatest metafiction of them all, Don Quixote, particularly Book II, which opens with a discussion of a false Don Quixote written by another author. It's long and challenging, but it's the granddaddy.

As for expressive Typography, Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer has its fair share. Plus it's a work of fiction whose "hero" has the same name as the author. Plus it's funny as hell, and very moving.

Some other possibilities: Pat Barker's Regeneration (fiction about real people, and very good), Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber (short stories playing with fairy tales).
posted by Palaverist at 7:07 AM on November 16, 2007

Best answer: Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper might be instructive as one of the longer works for a few reasons: the characters come to war with the omnicient author/narrator, and one of the characters develops the ability to shield their thoughts from the author, which is signified by black blotches over parts of the text.

Maybe grab the fictional filmography from the footnotes of Infinite Jest for a short item.
posted by moift at 7:41 AM on November 16, 2007

Best answer: Tom Phillips' A Humument. An ongoing (neverending?) illustrated "treatment" of an obscure Victorian novel, which, though long, meets all of your criteria. And is gorgeous.
posted by generalist at 7:58 AM on November 16, 2007

+1 for Borges.

The last section of Alistair Gray's 1982, Janine has some amazing expressive typography (I hadn't heard that expression before but it hits the nail on the head).

Something from the Oulipo movement? A Void is probably the best known.
posted by crocomancer at 8:46 AM on November 16, 2007

Borges, Calvino, and Perec are all good choices. I've heard that Milorad Pavić and Mark Dunn are worthwhile, and for the experimental stuff Oulipo is an avenue to explore further; a composition class might get a kick out of Exercises in Style, or its graphic novel remake. There's the original play of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, also.
posted by Paragon at 9:04 AM on November 16, 2007

Best answer: big Wiki list

smaller Wiki list broken down by type of metafictional device

I imagine students would get a kick out of watching Stranger than Fiction.
posted by Orinda at 9:07 AM on November 16, 2007

Even shorter would be a couple of Borges's Fictions, which do some truly demented things with metafiction (consider the one about writing the Quixote).

That story is called Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote.

You might also be able to use Borges and I or The Secret Miracle. These are all collected in Labyrinths.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:18 AM on November 16, 2007

Nthing Borges and Labyrinths.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:04 AM on November 16, 2007

The first part of Auster's New York Trilogy, maybe.

Nthing Borges, Calvino, & Pavic.
posted by juv3nal at 11:46 AM on November 16, 2007

Response by poster: Thank you to all! The first text I thought of was Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars, and I'm still on the fence-- I'm not sure it's something we can tackle in a semester. Probably will do some short Borges. Had not thought of Calvino, but If On a Winter's Night a Traveler would work. Queneau's Exercises de Style will probably get stuck in there as well.

I know the post is off the page now, but I'm willing to entertain other ideas. Thanks again!
posted by exlotuseater at 12:28 AM on November 18, 2007

I would suggest Godel, Escher, Bach, which we read in a metafiction class I took in HS. I believe that link will allow you to look through the first few pages to see if it is to your liking, but from your description, I think you could find numerous chapters that would address your needs.
posted by battlecj at 2:07 PM on November 29, 2007