Playful gestures: The world of American metafiction

This study argues that American metafiction can be understood in the context of two seemingly disparate impulses. It maintains that American metafiction of the 1960s and 1970s, represented by John Barth, Robert Coover, and Gilbert Sorrentino, demonstrates interesting parallels with poststructuralist theory, especially deconstruction; at the same time, this fiction can be read within the tradition of American fiction represented by Hawthorne, loosely thought of as "romance," but defined more broadly by such critics as Richard Poirier as the attempt to create a "world elsewhere." Chapter 1 looks at the critical history of metafiction and surveys most of the important articles and books. It then introduces the work of Poirier and others, as well the work of Derrida. The relevance of these critics and theorists to metafiction is explained. Finally it introduces the three writers to be discussed, explaining the rationale of the choice of these writers as well as the rationale behind the choice of texts. Chapter 2 discusses John Barth. The first part of the chapter elaborates on the critical implications of Poirier's book, similar work by other critics of American and contemporary fiction, and explores the implications of Derrida and deconstruction. The remainder of the chapter is an interpretation of Lost in the Funhouse and Chimera. Chapter 3 discusses Coover's The Universal Baseball Association and Pricksongs and Descants. It argues that UBA is a provocative exploration of the implications of the world elsewhere, which demonstrates the importance of separating this imaginative realm from ordinary "reality." The discussion of Pricksongs and Descants continues to focus on the ways in which metafiction can be understood in the context of deconstruction, as well the tradition exemplified by Hawthorne. Chapter 4 discusses Gilbert Sorrentino and his importance to the continued development of metafiction. The first part of the chapter focuses on the programmatic aspects of Sorrentino's work, exemplified in his novel Splendide-Hotel. The bulk of the chapter is an interpretation of Mulligan Stew, perhaps the culmination of the metafictional impulse in American fiction. The chapter concludes by discussing the current situation in American fiction in the wake of books like Mulligan Stew.