Metafiction In Possession: The Representation Of Love In Literature

Introduction

On the first glance, there is nothing common between a romance and a detective story written from the perspective of an autistic child. Postmodern literary period seems to be the only shared feature of those novels. Is that true or do they have something else in common?

This paper explores features of postmodernism that both literary works share, namely the author selected the quest narrative and metafiction. Moreover, the paper focuses on the theme of love reflected in novels and provides an explanation of the representation of love in both of them. The main aim of this paper is to examine shared characteristics of postmodern literature and mainly, the theme of love. Love has many shapes and comes in many forms, so it does in

The easiest way to define metafiction is to say that it is fiction about fiction. Metafiction is often used to undermine author´s autority in the text, for narrative shifts that come unexpectedly or for comments on the act of storytelling. (SHARMA; CHAUDHARY, 2011, p.195)

The element of metafiction in Possession is manifested through the presence of letters, poems and diaries from the Victorian period, included in the story. The style of narration of the poems and letters differs according to the speaker, so the feeling that the different person tells a story becomes even more realistic.

On the other hand, A Curious Incident can also be considered a metafiction. The classification of this story is even more easier, because clearly, it is a story about writing a story (fiction about fiction). The main protagonist and the speaker of the story describes and talks about the process of writing the book that the reader is actually

On the other hand, there is a The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and its portrayal of this theme. Mark Haddon had written the story about a teenager boy with Asperger´s Syndrome that values logic, loves maths in which he is brilliant, but lacks the understanding of people and emotional relations. The book is not written in an usual way, nor is the portrayal of love in the story. (OLIVER, 2005, p.9) "I held up my left hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug, but I do not like hugging people so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me."(HADDON, 2003, p.31:) Life, habits and thinking of an autistic child differ from that of a healthy person. During the story, the reader is aware of narrator´s disability expressed through the thoughts of the narrator and his style of writing. The main character is able to express love towards human beings, but only to the selected ones (his father) and in a very uncommon way (touch of a hand instead of giving a hug). In this story, there is a lack of romantic love, unlike in Possession. The theme of love is present in the story, but it is a different kind of love. The expression of love is completely different from the usual pattern. The reason might be Christopher´s incomprehension of love and his disability to understand it. His love is