Metafiction
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A form of self-referential literature concerned with the art and devices of fiction itself. uncountable, usually
"Julian Barnes's Flaubert's Parrot (1984) and Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor and Chatterton may be described as accomplished examples of historiographic metafiction, the kind of self-conscious, heavily parodic and experimental historical […]"
Example
More examples"Julian Barnes's Flaubert's Parrot (1984) and Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor and Chatterton may be described as accomplished examples of historiographic metafiction, the kind of self-conscious, heavily parodic and experimental historical […]"
Etymology
From meta- + fiction, coined in 1970 by William H. Gass
Related phrases
More for "metafiction"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.