Reality beckons: metamodernist depthiness beyond panfictionality

European journal of English studies, 2019, Vol.23 (2), p.172-189 https://doi.org/10.1080/13825577.2019.1640426

Autor: 

1. Gibbons, Alison; Department of Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK; a.gibbons@shu.ac.uk;  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8912-9350
2. Vermeulen, Timotheus; Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; timotheus.vermeulen@media.uio.no 
3. Van den Akkerc, Robin; Department of Humanities, Erasmus University College Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherland; vandenakker@esphil.eur.nl
    

Keywords:  A Tale for the Time Being, autofiction, metamodernism, panfictionality, reality, Ruth Ozeki, The Keepers, true crime

Abstract: It is often argued that postmodernism has been succeeded by a new dominant cultural logic. We conceive of this new logic as metamodernism. Whilst some twenty-first century texts still engage with and utilise postmodernist practices, they put these practices to new use. In this article, we investigate the metamodern usage of the typically postmodernist devices of metatextuality and ontological slippage in two genres: autofiction and true crime documentary. Specifically, we analyse Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being and the Netflix mini-series The Keepers, demonstrating that forms of fictionalisation, metafictionality and ontological blurring between fiction and reality have been repurposed. We argue that, rather than expand the scope of fiction, overriding reality, the metamodernist repurposing of postmodernist textual strategies generates a kind of ‘reality-effect’.

Idioma: Inglés 

Publicación: 04 de octubre del 2019 

Volumen: European journal of English studies, 2019, Vol. 23 (2), p.172-189

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