8+ metaprose novels or literature about literature

Postmodern literature is generally interested in the process of creation and the essence of art. That’s why many writers since the beginning of the 20th century have been trying to analyse their creative process and present the inside of it to the reader. Such type of literary work is defined as metaprose. This concept includes novels and short stories, which tell us about the process of writing, depict the image of an Author (real or imagined) or, sometimes, a Reader, or discuss another literary works. If fiction is your strongest passion, and you want to know how it is created, these novels are definitely a must-read for you.

1. "Green Shadows, white whale" by Ray Bradbury

What is it about?

This is a novel made of short stories describing the time Ray Bradbury spent in Ireland in 1953 when John Huston, a famous Hollywood director, invited him to work at the script for the screen version of Melville’s “Moby Dick”. For more than six months the White Whale has become a daily companion for the writer and a ticket to the country that he would favour for the rest of his life.

Why is it metaprose?

Most obviously this is partially an autobiographical work, Bradbury lets the reader have a look at how he usually creates his works. He wants us to understand that writers don’t have inspiration every single moment of their lives so half of the success is hard work and wide open eyes to see all the beauty and magic around you. The novel also helps to understand where his fascination with Ireland comes from and what Bradbury was like before he became a world-known sci-fi author.

2. "Cakes and Ale" by W.S. Maugham

What is it about?

Like any of Maugham's novels Cakes and Ale is a combination of many different stories. First is the story of the young writer, Willie Ashenden, who is just at the bottom of his career ladder. The second is the story of a writer (Edward Driffield) and his family and literary life and the story of another writer (Alroy Kear) who is trying to compose the biography of Mr. Driffield and finally this is a story of Rosie, a muse and one of the best female characters of Somerset Maugham.

Why is it metaprose?

Unlike the previous book, it is focused on the image of a writer rather than on writing process itself. Presenting three different authors to the reader, Maugham discusses the problem of popularity, and how different writers strive to gain it. And of course here you can see a muse who provides quite a different source of inspiration as opposed to the previous story. All characters are imaginary, but you may notice the traces of the prominent artists of 20^th century including Thomas Hardy and Maugham himself.

3. "Mister Pip" by Lloyd Jones

What is it about?

The setting is a small secluded island in the Pacific Ocean torn by civil war. Mr. Pip, the only white person on the island, decides to act as a teacher for the children of the village and gathers them in the shabby and forsaken school building to share his humble knowledge of the world, which includes reading one of the masterpieces of British culture - "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens...

Why is it metaprose?

Although it pays a lot of attention to Dickens and his acclaimed novel, the main attention here shifts to the readers. The most important problem for the author is literary perception and how different circumstances, different background, beliefs and intentions influence it. On the other side of the problem is imagination, which can create a great novel… or destroy a whole community.

4. "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" by Italo Calvino

What is it about?

The Reader buys a fashionable new book “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller” by Italo Calvino, but, having read the first part, discovers, that the publication is corrupted as this part repeats over and over again. While trying to exchange it in the bookshop, he meets the Other Reader, Luidmilla, who has the same problem, and the text he was reading turns out to be another novel by quite a different author. Together they start a quest to find the pieces of the novel and understand what it really is about and who was the actual writer, every time finding excerpts of different style, genre and form and getting more and more confused…

Why is it metaprose?

This novel is turned upside down in comparison to the traditional form, as it is the reader who plays the main role in it. I mean not only the Male and Female Readers who are primary characters but in fact, any person who takes this book into his/her hands. The pieces of information you gather from the extracts allow thousands of interpretations. In this book the author doesn’t exist anymore, his intention is of no importance, so basically the reader can make of it anything he wants and give way to imagination. The curious thing is that it is written in the second person narrative so YOU really become one of the characters of the novel. The other interesting side of it is that the author introduces pieces of other novels and genres into the book so instead of reading one novel you get familiar with ten at once.

5+ "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

What is it about?

“Atonement” tells about child’s naivety and one cowardly action that changed lives of many people for years to come. One hot August day of 1935 thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses something not meant for her eyes and makes some hasty conclusions which, spoken out in wrong time and place, will lead to irreversible consequences. For the rest of her life Briony’s mind will keep coming back to that episode and discovering new details and interpretations of it, wishing just to be able to repair the damage done.

Why is it metaprose?

From the very beginning of the book Briony knows that she is going to be a writer, so here we observe the development of an author and her artistic method. Apart from it, McEwan discusses a problem very common among the writers – they subconsciously see everything and everyone as a matter for their books. The author asks us a question: is it possible for their imagination to go too far and cause some real damage? While reading try to guess what is real, and what exists only in Briony’s imagination: this will be a true riddle for you.

P.S. In addition you might want to check out McEwan’s “Sweet tooth” which is not only a perfect stylization to resemble a spy fiction, but also a real novel inside a novel.

6. "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood

What is it about?

In this structurally complicated story the narrator, an elderly well-off lady, Iris Chase remembers her late sister Laura and the years spent together with her. The memoirs of Iris are interchanged by extracts from Laura’s novel where a female protagonist secretly visits a young man and wants to run away with him. This novel includes in itself the third story told by the male protagonist, about a Blind Assassin living on a fantastic planet.

Why is it metaprose?

This novel is a real magic box as Margaret Atwood manages to put three stories in it, one inside the other. As well as in the previous book reality and imagination are combined here to produce something really phantasmagorical. The chapters of the book strangely echo the events of life, so if you pay attention you can draw a connection between them and understand why the story of the Blind Assassin was created.

7+ "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt

What is it about?

The novel spans from 1895 up to the beginning of WWI and describes complicated relations within the house of a children books writer Olive Wellwood, her husband and their numerous children. Their house is always full with creative and influential people of all sorts – writers, artists, sculptors, scientists, bankers – which makes the novel a detailed picture of the upper-class life in antebellum England.

Why is it metaprose?

We definitely observe Olive’s creative process, in addition the novel mentions a lot of famous authors of the period. Apart from this, the Wellwood house has an interesting tradition – every child in it has his or her own book and once in a while Olive adds a story to each of them. So the reader can observe how real life events are interpreted and echoed in the literary form. One of the major problems A.S. Byatt wanted to present is how creative work of writers influences their children. You will notice that at some point life and fairy tale exchange their places and instead of interpreting the reality these children’s books begin to change it. While some children prefer to break up with the role written for them in the book and do their best to oppose it, others get too used to their fictional doppelganger and the book begins to dictate their decisions in reality.

"Possession" by A.S. Byatt

What is it about?

One more Byatt’s novel worth mentioning in this list is “Possession”. The novel is arranged into two plot lines with different setting: the first concerns the relationship between two fictional Victorian poets, Randolph Henry Ash (supposedly based on Robert Browning, or Alfred, Lord Tennyson) and Christabel LaMotte (based on Christina Rossetti), the second presents two academics (Roland Michell and Maud Bailey) who investigate into their relations and creative works.

Why is it metaprose?

This novel discusses a wide range of literary problems like connection of a literary work to the cultural background and the author’s biography, perception and critical evaluation of a book, development of the personal style and mutual influences among the authors of the same period and others. The book includes excerpts of poetry, diary notes, letters that shape its unique style.

8. "Chatterton" by Peter Ackroyd

What is it about?

Peter Ackroyd is famous for his pseudo-historical novels, which combine deep investigation into the historical period and life of a particular person with quality fiction. In this novel he presents his vision of the life and early death of Thomas Chatterton, a 19^th century English poet and forger of the works of more famous writers.

Why is it metaprose?

“Chatterton” debates the difference between stylization and plagiarism, between authentic and fake, and lets the reader to penetrate into the process of creating poetry.