In its contradictory nature, historiographic metafiction refers both to the world of history and that of fiction, namely it is the meeting point of history and fiction, allowing us to approach the. A specialist in postmodernist culture and in critical theory, on which she has published 9 books, she has also worked collaboratively in large projects involving hundreds of scholars the multivolumed rethinking literary history, which was awarded a major. Continuing the project begun in the poetics of postmodernism, linda hutcheon focuses on the politics of representation. Discusses some of canadas most famous authors of recent years, including audrey thomas, michael ondaatje, robert kroetsch, margaret atwood, timothy findley, jack hodgins, aritha van herk, leonard cohen, susan swan, clark.
It continues the project of linda hutcheon s narcissistic narrative and a theory of parody in studying formal selfconsciousness in art, but adds to this both an historical and an ideological dimension. She is a university professor emeritus in the department of english and of the centre for comparative literature at the university of toronto, where she has taught since 1988. The politics of postmodernism linda hutcheon 1989 studies. Historiographic metafiction is a term originally coined by literary theorist linda hutcheon. Its rather intriguing how hutcheon closely examines adaptation across media platforms and how it coincides with storytelling. Historiographic metafiction butter major reference. In historical novel the authenticity of history is recreated by incorporating it in the narrative. Pdf the historiographic metafictional writing of power and the. It also explores the empowering narrative mode that linda hutcheon calls historiographic metafiction as a form of mature, sincere, and. By doing so she intends to prove that the postmodern as a cultural phenomenon attempts to negotiate the space between.
Canadian historiographic metafiction linda hutcheon what we label today as metafiction fiction which is, in some dominant and constitutive way, selfreferential and autorepresentational suggests that the mimetic connection between art and life by which we still seem to want to define the novel genre has changed. Jul 15, 2015 in historiographical metafiction characters are eccentrics marginalized and peripheral figures who questions history. Hutcheon identifies parody as one of the major forms of modern selfreflexivity, one that marks the intersection of invention. Doc historiographic metafiction pointed summary antony. Coetzees novel fits cleanly into a further subset of metafiction, and that is the concept of historiographic metafiction, which essentially is metafictional works that concentrate on histories and the historical. May 22, 20 having placed this phenomenon in its historical context linda hutcheon uses the insights of various readerresponse theories to explore the paradox created by metafiction. Linda hutcheon in her book a poetics of postmodernism 1988, where she used the by now wellknown phrase of historiographic metafiction to refer to a. As david lodge has put it, postmodernism shortcircuitsthe gap between text and world 23940. This is categorically a postmodern art form that relies heavily on textual play, parody and historical reconceptualisation. Parody and the intertextuality of history by linda hutcheon july 22, 2015 july 22, 2015 sundialgirl i first read this essay in another lifetime as an ma student at the national university of singapore. It is highly selfreflexive, and at the same time lays claim to historical events and personages. Historiographic metafiction corroborates the views of philosophers of history such as dominick lacapra who argue that the past arrives in the form of texts and textualized remaindersmemories, reports, published writings, archives, monuments, and so forth 128 and that these texts interact with one another in complex ways.
Susan barton, foe, 58 of the many literary conventions used to describe jm coetzees foe, one of the more commonly written about is metafiction. Part of this problematizing return to history is no doubt a response to the hermetic ahistoric formalism and aestheticism that characterized. According to linda hutcheon, postmodernism is historiographic metafiction, texts that selfconsciously and ironically problematize the way fiction and history are represented. Adaptation, hutcheon argues, has always been a central mode of the storytelling imagination and deserves to be studied in all its breadth and range as both a process of creation and reception and a product. Genealogy profile for robert hutcheon robert hutcheon c. Historiographic metafiction literary theory and criticism. Parody and the intertextuality of history linda hutcheon il y a plus affaire a interpreter les interpretations qua interpreter les. Nov 19, 2014 historiographic metafiction hm is a literary term first coined by creative writing academic linda hutcheon in 1988, and which refers to the postmodern practice of a fiction author inserting imaginedor illegitimatecharacters into narratives that are intended to be received as authentic and historically accurate, that is, ostensibly legitimate. Linda hutcheon develops a theory of adaptation through a range of media, from film and opera, to video games, pop music and theme p. Discussions of postmodernism seem more prone than most to.
Postmodernism, metafiction, historiographic metafiction research papers on academia. Jul 22, 2015 thoughts while rereading historiographic metafiction. According to hutcheon, in a poetics of postmodernism, works of historiographic metafiction are those wellknown and popular novels which are both intensely. Historians, like novelists, are said to be interested not in recounting the facts, but in recounting that they are recounting them.
Linda hutcheon historiographic metafiction postmodern. In this major study of a flexible and multifaceted mode of expression, linda hutcheon looks at works of modern literature, visual art, music, film, theater, and architecture to arrive at a comprehensive assessment of what parody is and what it does. Are you not filled with joy to know that you will live forever, after a manner. Works regarded as historiographic metafiction are also. The term historiographic metafiction was coined by linda hutcheon in her essay be ginning to theorize the postmodern in 1987 and then further developed.
Toni morrisons novel beloved 1987 as what linda hutcheon has called. Linda hutcheon develops a theory of adaptation through a range of media, from film and opera, to video games, pop music and theme parks, analysing the breadth, scope and creative possibilities within each. Hutcheons treatment of games focuses on the dimensions of interactivity, kinesthesia, and dependence on the player for the story to reach a happy ending. The edge of irony, says linda hutcheon, is always a social and political edge. Historiographic metafiction parody and the intertextuality of history intertextuality and contemporary american fiction. Problematizing representation of the past and of its. Relevant quotations from especially regarding historical metafiction. The first chapter in the book a theory of adaptation by linda hutcheon is called beginning to theorize adaptation. In 2000 she was elected the 117th president of the. Historiographic metafiction free download as word doc. Renowned literary scholar linda hutcheon explores the ubiquity of adaptations in all their various media incarnations and challenges their constant critical denigration. Historiographic metafiction hm is a literary term first coined by creative writing academic linda hutcheon in 1988, and which refers to the postmodern practice of a fiction author inserting imaginedor illegitimatecharacters into narratives that are intended to be received as authentic and historically accurate, that is, ostensibly legitimate.
Continuing from yesterdays post concerning adaptation, i wanted to share with you all a great, insightful text on said subject. Essentially hutcheon s argument is that postmodern historiographic metafiction a term she coined is principally concerned with the epistemological status of the past and therefore the present, which is. Historiographic metafiction research papers academia. Historiographic metafiction is one kind of postmodern novel which rejects projecting present beliefs and standards onto the past and asserts the specificity and particularity of the individual past event. The correct form for the bibliographic reference element of a citation for the selected resource is shown in a variety of the most widelyaccepted citation styles below. Metafiction, as it has now been named, is fiction about fictionthat is, fiction that includes within itself a commentary on its own narrative andor linguistic identity. Linda hutcheon historiographic metafiction free download as pdf file. Dec 17, 20 historiographic metafiction linda hutcheon 1. Metafiction and jm coetzees foe michigan state university. Postmodern paratextuality and history by linda hutcheon.
Linda hutcheon and mario valdes with stephen greenblatt, homi bhabha, walter mignolo, marshall brown, oxford university press, 2002. A theory of adaptation by linda hutcheon the bookshelf. Historiographic metafiction parody and the intertextuality of. But a poetics of postmodernism has a broader focus and will almost certainly become my goto text for hutcheon references in future. The canadian postmodern a study of contemporary canadian fiction edited by linda hutcheon.
Historiographic metafiction parody and the intertextuality. Modelled on postmodern architecture, postmodernism is the name given here to. Historiographic metafiction manages to satisfy such a desire for worldly grounding while at the same time querying the very basis ofthe authority of that grounding. Chinnery robin hutcheon national library of australia.
The term is used for works of fiction which combine the literary devices of metafiction with historical fiction. Ironys edge is a fascinating, compulsively readable study of the myriad forms and the effects of irony. Postmodernism is a phenomenon whose mode is resolutely contradictory as well as unavoidably political. Looking at both mass media and high art forms, she challenges the seeming transparency and apparent apolitical innocence of our visual images and verbal stories, asserting that these construct rather than reflect or express our experience of. Hutcheon looks at adaptations as a secondary work from the original. As barthes once remarked, bouvard and pecuchet become the ideal precursors of the postmodernist writer who can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior. Historiographic metafiction butter major reference works. Historiographic metafiction is, in a number of senses, overtly a form of braided narrative, and even a brief look at the functions of footnotes in a novel like fowles the french lieutenants womanto shows the role paratextuality can play in the insertion of history into metafiction.
It challenges history and plays upon the plays upon the truth and lies of the historical record. Thoughts while rereading historiographic metafiction. The end of history in english historiographic metafiction. The special kind of the postmodern fiction dealing with the past is referred to by linda hutcheon as historiographic metafiction. Aug 01, 2016 the special kind of the postmodern fiction dealing with the past is referred to by linda hutcheon as historiographic metafiction. The term historiographic metafiction was coined by linda hutcheon in her essay beginning to theorize the postmodern in 1987 and then further developed in her seminal study a poetics of postmodernism 1988 to describe those well.
This book studies the work of some of canadas most prominent fiction writers in the context of postmodernism. It continues the project of linda hutcheons narcissistic narrative and a theory of parody in studying formal selfconsciousness in art, but adds to this both an historical and an ideological dimension. The metafictional paradox was originally conceived as a defence of a kind of fiction which began to run rampant in the 1960s. Il y a plus affaire a interpreter les interpretations qua inter preter les. Hutcheon shows that in canada, this cultural phenomenon has not only found particularly fertile ground on which to develop but has also taken a distinctive form. A theory of adaptation explores the continuous development of creative adaptation, and argues that the practice of adapting is central to the storytelling imagination. Historiographic metafiction, therefore, represents a challenging of the related conventional forms of fiction and history through its acknowledgment of their inescapable textuality. The historiographic metafictional writing of power and the power of writing historiographic metafiction in thomas pynchons the crying of lot 49. What is underlined in this kind of fiction is that history and fiction are human constructs 5. Linda hutcheon develops a theory of adaptation through a range of media, from film and opera, to video games, pop music and theme parks, analysing the breadth, scope and creative. Essentially hutcheons argument is that postmodern historiographic metafiction a term she coined is principally concerned with the epistemological status of the past and therefore the present, which is.
A specialist in postmodernist culture and in critical theory, on which she has published 9 books, she has also worked collaboratively in large projects involving hundreds of scholars the multivolumed rethinking literary history, which was. I think what is missing is a discussion of the mechanics of the narrative worlds in the adapted texts, and how they are transformed into the mechanics of the games. A term originally coined by linda hutcheon, in a poetics of postmodernism, historiographic metafiction includes those postmodern works, usually popular novels, which are both intensely selfreflexive and paradoxically lay claim to historical events and personages. Postmodernism manifests itself in many fields of cultural endeavor architecture. The metafictional paradox university paperback by linda hutcheon and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Having placed this phenomenon in its historical context linda hutcheon uses the insights of various readerresponse theories to explore the paradox created by metafiction. In postmodern fiction the author plays with truths and lies of historical reports. The term historiographic metafiction was coined by linda hutcheon in her essay beginning to theorize the postmodern in 1987 and then. Linda hutcheon is professor of english and comparative literature at the university of toronto, canada. A theory of adaptation linda hutcheon, siobhan oflynn. See below for information about citations and references, and how to use them. There seems to be a new desire to think historically, but to think historically these days is to think critically and contextually. View historiographic metafiction research papers on academia. For hutcheon the four most visible forms presently in use in such metafiction are the detective story, fantasy, games and the erotic, which all function as selfreflective paradigms, making the act of reading into one of active production, of imagining, interpreting, decoding, ordering, in short of constructing the literary universe through.
Historiographic metafiction is a term coined by canadian literary theorist linda hutcheon in the late 1980s. A poetics of postmodernism is neither a defense nor a denunciation of the postmodern. She is also author of a politics of postmodernism, a theory of parody, and ironys edge 2. She examines contemporary cultural theory and the writings of margaret atwood, clark blaise, george. Postmodernism manifests itself in many fields of cultural endeavor architecture, literature, photography, film, painting, video, dance, music. Whereas, for brian mchale, postmodernism is characterized by its focus on ontological issues, issues that pertain to being or reality. Historiographic metafiction parody and the intertextuality of history. Looking at both mass media and high art forms, she challenges the seeming transparency and apparent apolitical innocence of our visual images and verbal stories, asserting that these construct rather than reflect or express our experience of the world. Jan 01, 1989 continuing the project begun in the poetics of postmodernism, linda hutcheon focuses on the politics of representation. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the politics of postmodernism.
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