METAFICTIONAL STRATEGIES IN MODERN PROSE

Abstract

With the advent and development of the theory of metafiction, the range of works that can be referred to this phenomenon is constantly expanding, with the deepest origins of metafiction being found in the history of novel as a genre. Modern Russian metafiction, developing in the context of literary centrism rebooting and new practices being created, is widely represented in different strata of modern Russian literature: in elite literature (Pushkin House by A. Bitov, t by V. Pelevin, Blue Fat by V. Sorokin, etc.), in fiction (Happiness Is Possible by O. Zayonchkovsky, Quality of Life by A. Slapovsky, Medvedki by M. Galina, Self-Taught by A. Utkin, etc.), in mass literature (Stylist by A. Marinina, Boys and Girls by E. Kolina, Point of No Return by P. Dashkova, etc.). The article analyzes different metafictional strategies in modern prose. The process of creating literary text is found to be one of the crosscutting subjects of modern metafiction. This is primarily connected with the writers’ desire to capture and reflect the complex and contradictory strategies of writing in the 21st century. The article considers different manifestations of metafictional strategy, such as: ‘triple literary matryoshka’ (Literary Slave: Weekdays and Holidays by N. Sokolovskaya), the theme of translation and mystification (Interlinear Translation by E. Chizhov and Stylist by A. Ma­rinina), the author’s reflection (Adaptor by A. Slapovsky), ‘novel about a writer’ (Happiness is Possible by O. Zayonchkovsky), text created in collaboration with the new type of the reader (Arbeit. The Wide Canvas by E. Popova). All the analyzed texts raise questions about the changing role of the writer and the reader in the modern world and about the new relations between the writer and the publisher.