A Writer's Notebook, Day Nine-Hundred-And-Four

There are certain aspects of metanarrative approaches which I think are not often explored in fiction.  It is clear, when one looks at the work of early twentieth century writers who were starting to explore these concepts, a large part of the intent was about breaking down the illusions and artiface of art.  A theatrical piece breaking the fourth wall was intended as a reminder to the audience watching that they are watching theater.  In contrast, much of the metafiction I find does not appear to be working within that framework.  Often, it feels that the intent is more about implying a deeper reality to the work, a sense that it exists in some other reality.  This is an interesting area for exploration, of course, and I cannot deny that I am interested in this aspect as well, but, I think it is possible to do something more by moving beyond the reliance on illusion, to present something meaningful that is known to be unreal, that exists on its own reams as an imagined object of significance.

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