Metalepsis in Popular Culture (Narratologia: Contributions to Narrative Theory/Beitrage Zure Erzahltheorie)

"Metalepsis refers to the crossing of boundaries between fiction and reality in narratives. This volume provides a systematic overview of metalepsis, its types and effects, in popular culture. The contributions discuss popular fiction, fan fiction, pop lyrics, comics, films, animated cartoons, music videos, live performances and TV series from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Metalepsis in Popular Culture introduces the rhetorical concept of metalepsis and applies it to contemporary popular culture, thereby demonstrating its importance for the negotiation of fact and fiction in our cultural world"--Provided by publisher Cover......Page 1 Preface......Page 8 Metalepsis in Popular Culture: An Introduction......Page 16 Metalepsis in Fantasy Fiction......Page 37 Narrative Metalepsis in Detective Fiction......Page 56 “I’m so vain I bet I think this song is about myself”: Carly Simon, Pop Music and the Problematic “I” of Lyric Poetry......Page 80 Metalepsis in Fan Vids and Fan Fiction......Page 98 “I had the strangest week ever!” Metalepsis in Music Videos......Page 119 Metaleptic TV Crossovers......Page 142 “Some weird kind of video feedback time warp zapping thing”: Television, Remote Controls, and Metalepsis......Page 173 Metalepsis in Popular Comedy Film......Page 186 Metalepsis in the Cartoons of Tex Avery: Expanding the Boundaries of Transgression......Page 211 Metalepsis in Comics and Graphic Novels......Page 228 Metalepsis in Live Performance: Holographic Projections of the Cartoon Band “Gorillaz” as a Means of Metalepsis......Page 247 Pop-Culture in History: Metalepsis and Metareference in German and Italian Music Theatre......Page 267 Afterword......Page 283 General Bibliography on Metalepsis......Page 292

When readers become victims of the murder mysteries they are immersed in, when superheroes embark on a quest to challenge their authors or when the fictional rock band Gorillaz flirt with Madonna during their performance, then metalepsis in popular culture occurs. Metalepsis describes the transgression of the boundary between the fictional world and (a representation of) the real world. This volume establishes a transmedial definition of metalepsis and explores the phenomenon in twelve case studies across media and genres of popular culture: from film, TV series, animated cartoons, graphic novels and popular fiction to pop music, music videos, holographic projections and fan cultures.

Narrative studies have considered metalepsis so far largely as a phenomenon of postmodern or avant-garde literature. Metalepsis in Popular Culture investigates metalepsis’ ties to the popular and traces its transmedial importance through a wealth of examples from the turn of the 20th century to this day. The articles also address larger issues such as readerly immersion, the appeal of complexity in popular culture, or the negotiation of fiction and reality in media, and invite readers to rethink these issues through the prism of metalepsis.

Karin Kukkonen and Sonja Klimek : Preface Karin Kukkonen : Metalepsis in popular culture: an introduction Sonja Klimek : Metalepsis in fantasy fiction Liviu Lutas : Narrative metalepsis in detective fiction David Ben-Merre : I'm so vain I bet I think this song is about myself: Carly Simon, pop music and the problematic "I"? of lyric poetry Tisha Turk : Metalepsis in fan vids and fan fiction Henry Keazor : "I had the strangest week ever!" metalepsis in music videos Erwin Feyersinger : Metaleptic TV crossovers Jeff Thoss : "Some weird kind of video feedback time warp zapping thing": television, remote controls and metalepsis Keyvan Sarkhosh : Metalepsis in popular comedy film Jean-Marc Limoges : Metalepsis in the cartoons of Tex Avery: expanding the boundaries of transgression Karin Kukkonen : Metalepsis in comics and graphic novels Roberta Hofer : Metalepsis in live performance: holographic projections of the cartoon band "gorillaz" as a means of metalepsis Harald Fricke : Pop-culture in history: metalepsis and metareference in German and Italian music theatre John Pier : Afterword General bibliography on metalepsis. Biographical note: Karin Kukkonen, University of Tampere, Finland; Sonja Klimek, University of Fribourg, Switzerland