self

habitual construction of imagination

Evolution of a paper. Mostly complete.

iambarr | November 23, 2009

Fear and Confusion The defining characteristic of metafiction is that the text must self-consciously acknowledge the conventions involved in the fiction-writing process. In Lost in the Funhouse, John Barth not only calls attention to general literary conventions, he blatantly exposes them within his own story, often defining them immediately before defying them. Two of the [...]

Andre, you are my nemesis.

iambarr | November 22, 2009

Barth – “Lost in the Funhouse” The Assignment: Show how it operates as metafiction The significant way Barth experiments with familiar narrative conventions to comment on the story-writing process. How do- -structure -point of view -style operate as vehicles for what Barth wants to communicate about the world? Do they comment on or critique aspects [...]

Lost in the Funhouse Outline

iambarr | November 21, 2009

Outline I. Introduction A. Define terms – metafiction (fiction about fiction), postmodernism (a reworking or subversion of past conventions) B. Present major arguments C. State thesis – In writing a story about the writing of a story, Barth has created a classic work of metafiction. II. Definition and defiance of convention – Barth defines many [...]