Metafiction in Jalal Barjas’s Afaei Alnar

This article examines a postmodern mode of narration, i.e., meta-narrative, which was first employed by the American novelist William Gass. Metafiction is one of the most important features of postmodern literature, which is different from the traditional mode of narration, that draws on new techniques in writing fiction. This study attempts to examine the meta-adventure in Afaei Alnar by Jalal Barjas, in which metafiction techniques are used in order to new and wide spaces. Based on a descriptive-analytical approach, this study concludes that the narrative of Jalal Barjas often oscillates between fantasy and reality, between the past and the present. Among the most important metaphorical techniques he employes in the novel are the followings: evoking writing rituals, referring to the process of writing, embodying writing anxiety, fragmenting narration through creating multiple narrators (polyphony), and oscillating between illusory imagination and truth. These items draw the reader’s attention more to the narration process itself than to the subject of narration.