Referencing the process of writing the novel as a part of the novel's plot

Question

I am writing a review of a novel, which I guess is postmodern in a nonstrict way. And I need help with terms.

How do you call a technique when the main character is the author of the novel and along the plot he writes the novel itself, discusses excerpts of it with other characters, doubts what to write and what not to write etc.? When the novel is part of its own plot. The narrative is first-person, however the novel is not in a form of diary, rather memoirs (not exactly, but close).

And also, what brightest examples of such technique from authoritative writers can you name as an exemplar?

Answer 1

The technical terms in literature and art theory used in relation to this are "mise-en-abyme", "metafiction", and "self-referentiality". All may denote slightly different aspects of the phenomenon, depending on the definitions used by the respective theorists.

Answer 2

I keyed into Google "A movie about itself", and I got this link to Wikipedia:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta-reference .

   Metareference, a metafiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the programme/film/book itself. It is also sometimes known as "Breaking the Fourth Wall", in reference to the theatrical tradition of playing as if there were no audience, as if a wall existed between them and the actors.

   Metareference in fiction is jarring to the reader, but can be comical, such as in Jasper Fforde's novel Lost in a Good Book. The character Thursday Next remarks to her husband that she feels uncomfortable having sex in front of so many people; he is confused since they are alone in their bedroom, so she explains, "all the people reading us".

2. Which led to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafiction

   "Metafiction" is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection.

Answer 3

Some of the later novels of Jerzy Kosinski are good examples of metafiction, as is Příběh inženýra lidských duší (The Engineer of Human Souls), 1977, by Josef Skvorecky.