The concept of self-consciousness implies a kind of awareness of one’s own thoughts, actions and feelings. However, in postmodern literature, the term seems to have acquired additional meanings. It is used to designate certain narrative strategies that explicitly reveal the process of fiction-making.
Self-conscious narration is often characterized by a number of techniques, including:
* Explicit references to the act of writing or storytelling, such as the author interrupting the story to comment on the process of writing it.
* The use of unreliable narrators, who may be biased, omniscient, or even outright deceitful.
* The inclusion of metafictional elements, such as characters who are aware of the fact that they are in a story, or discussions of the nature of fiction and reality.
* Breaking down the “fourth wall” by having characters acknowledge the presence of an audience, like a showman directly addressing the audience.
* Parodying or satirizing literary conventions and tropes.
Self-conscious narration can be used to achieve a variety of effects, including:
* To create a sense of intimacy between the author and the reader.
* To make the reader think about the nature of fiction and reality.
* To subvert or challenge traditional literary conventions.
* To create a sense of humor or irony.
Some examples of self-conscious narration include:
* The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, in which the narrator interrupts the stories to comment on the characters and the act of storytelling.
* Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, which is full of digressions and metafictional commentary on the nature of writing a novel.
* One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, which uses magical realism to create a world that is both real and surreal.
* Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which uses time travel and flashbacks to tell a story about the bombing of Dresden during World War II.