Metafiction and the rise of self-reflexive novels (1960–1995)

1. Metafiction gains a clear modern model

   May 1, 1939Labels: Jorge Luis, Pierre Menard

   • Borges story
   • Encyclopedia com

2. Nabokov experiments with a “fake” text

   Jan 1, 1962Labels: Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire

   • Morgan Library
   • Pale Fire

3. Barthelme popularizes fragmentation and parody

   Jan 1, 1967Labels: Donald Barthelme, Snow White

   • Snow White
   • New Yorker

4. Barth frames realism as “exhausted”

   Aug 1, 1967Labels: John Barth, The Literature

   • Atlantic essay https
   • AP News

5. Barth’s stories turn technique into content

   Jan 1, 1968Labels: John Barth, Lost in

   • Funhouse
   • Kirkus

6. Coover links make-believe worlds to real life

   Jan 1, 1968Labels: Robert Coover, The Universal

   • BR Bullpen
   • Penguin RH

7. Vonnegut blends war narrative with authorial intrusion

   Mar 31, 1969Labels: Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

   • Vonnegut novel https
   • AP News

8. Fowles mainstreams the self-aware historical novel

   Nov 10, 1969Labels: John Fowles, The French

   • Fowles novel https
   • Historiographic https

9. “Metafiction” is named and defined in criticism

   Jan 1, 1970Labels: William H, Philosophy and

   • Routledge Comp https
   • Guardian

10. Federman’s “surfiction” pushes anti-realist experiments

    Jan 1, 1975Labels: Raymond Federman, Surfiction

    • Federman site https
    • Boekwinkeltjes https

11. Calvino makes reading itself the main plot

    Jan 1, 1979Labels: Italo Calvino, If on

    • Calvino novel
    • EBSCO

12. Barth argues for “replenishment,” not despair

    Jan 1, 1980Labels: John Barth, The Literature

    • Barth obituary https
    • AP News

13. Hutcheon theorizes “narcissistic” narrative techniques

    Jan 1, 1980Labels: Linda Hutcheon, Narcissistic Narrative

    • Strathmore lib https
    • Pers e review

14. Waugh’s *Metafiction* becomes a standard reference

    Jan 1, 1984Labels: Patricia Waugh, Metafiction

    • Routledge
    • NLA catalogue

15. Barnes blends biography, criticism, and invented narrative

    Jan 1, 1984Labels: Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot

    • Morgan Library
    • Barnes site

16. Auster reinvents detective fiction as identity trap

    Jan 1, 1985Labels: Paul Auster, City of

    • Oxford Academic
    • NYT review

17. Hutcheon links self-reflexive novels to history-writing

    Jan 1, 1988Labels: Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics

    • Routledge
    • Historiographic

18. Byatt’s *Possession* shows metafiction’s mature synthesis

    Jan 1, 1990Labels: A S, Possession

    • Possession
    • Poetics Routledge

19. Currie consolidates metafiction as a postwar tradition

    Jan 1, 1995Labels: Mark Currie, Metafiction

    • Routledge
    • UEA record