Metafictional narratives are often employed in postmodern novels to dig into the self-reflexive dimension of the authors. They emphasise the artificiality of the works to eliminate the boundaries between fiction and reality. Being aware of the structural components of narratives,… Read More ›
Fantasy and Sci-fi
The Conspiracy Theory of Artificial History as a Political Tool in Authoritarian Regimes: The Manipulation of Social Orders in Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (1972), as its title suggests, implies the power of human imagination through an imaginary universe consisted of numerous surrealist representations of imaginative cities. Inspired by Marco Polo’s pilgrimages, the novel appears to be a product of… Read More ›
Mythical or Metaphorical: Realism in Greek Mythology
In Greek mythology, gods and humans both depend and against each other. These gods are not almighty. They have emotions, community, each of them has their strengths and weaknesses, just like humans. While their godly powers rule over humans, it is… Read More ›
Humans and Nature in The History of Bees: 250 years of Destruct and Construct
Norwegian author Maja Lunde introduces us to an emerging genre – Climatic Fiction. It is a form of science fiction that offers eco-criticism. Her recent work, The History of Bees (2015), combines history, contemporary and a dystopian future to remind… Read More ›
Post-War Spain According to Carlos Ruiz Zafón: The Scars of War on the City and Its People
The Labyrinth of the Spirits (2016) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is the 4th and last installment of the series The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Each of them an independent narrative held together by a space called the “Cemetery of Forgotten Books”, where… Read More ›
The Matryoshka Doll of Dreams: The Adam of the Divinity and the Golem of Mankind in Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Circular Ruins”
Many postmodern writers convey the inadequacy of mankind’s imagination to the infinity of the universe with endless repetitions of sublime imageries. In Jorge Luis Borges’ Ficciones (1944), the imagery of an exitless labyrinth is often employed in his short stories… Read More ›