--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Metafiction says something. It has to do…" description: "\"Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges fr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg" --- # Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a… ![“Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges from it can be thought of as metafictional.” quote by Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg) > “Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges from it can be thought of as metafictional.” [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Metafiction highlights the self-awareness of narrative, exposing its constructed nature by embedding a story within a story. **In simple terms:** Self‑referential storytelling Key Takeaway Stories can comment on their own artifice Themes self‑reflexivity narrative layering literary criticism postmodernism creative experimentation Mood playful introspective provocative Type theoretical didactic When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary analysis classes - experimental fiction projects - media criticism - creative writing prompts Key Concepts meta‑narrative authorial voice fictional hierarchy Practical Applications - Teaching narrative theory - Designing interactive stories Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing a story's artificiality change your reading experience? - What does a story about storytelling reveal about truth? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-writing/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [By and large, serious fiction was the work of victims who portrayed victims for an audience of victims who, it was oddly assumed, would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/by-and-large-serious-fiction-was-the-work-of-victims-who-portrayed/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/science-fiction-writers-i-am-sorry-to-say-really-do-not-know-anything/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [The advice would be the same for any kind of fiction. Keep writing, and keep sending things out, not to friends and relatives, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-saberhagen/the-advice-would-be-the-same-for-any-kind-of-fiction-keep-writing-and/) [Fred Saberhagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-saberhagen/) > [And then I met Jerry and he's such a creative fiction writer, and I don't know if there's ever been a team put together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lahaye/and-then-i-met-jerry-and-he-s-such-a-creative-fiction-writer-and-i/) [Tim LaHaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lahaye/) > [“I told you; I am Arianna, the Siren, your Guardian, and how is a Guardian supposed to do her job if she is clueless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-sehyun-song/i-told-you-i-am-arianna-the-siren-your-guardian-and-how-is-a-guardian/) [Erica Sehyun Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-sehyun-song/) > [“That was enough dialogue for a few pages - he had to get into some fast, red-hot action. There weren't any more hitches now.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/that-was-enough-dialogue-for-a-few-pages-he-had-to-get-into-some-fast/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [“Grayson: Fiction is just a lie anyway. Brianna: But it's not - it's a different kind of truth - it would be your truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/grayson-fiction-is-just-a-lie-anyway-brianna-but-it-s-not-it-s-a/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [“She smiled sinisterly. Light mist started to slowly swirl around us. All I could see was her, the tall rocks and the white wall.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-sehyun-song/she-smiled-sinisterly-light-mist-started-to-slowly-swirl-around-us/) [Erica Sehyun Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-sehyun-song/) > [Once you're imagining being the main character, and you're having the conversations and actually being there, the magic in fiction writing takes over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-hobbs/once-you-re-imagining-being-the-main-character-and-you-re-having-the/) [Will Hobbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-hobbs/) > [“He was always crazy about her. If he was a king then she was his crest– the emblem of his kingdom. Without her, his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atri-cruizer/he-was-always-crazy-about-her-if-he-was-a-king-then-she-was-his-crest/) Atri Cruizer > [Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil-but there is no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/rejection-slips-or-form-letters-however-tactfully-phrased-are/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Fiction writing and journalism, in my experience, are really excellent training grounds for each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-hesse/fiction-writing-and-journalism-in-my-experience-are-really-excellent/) [Monica Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-hesse/) > [“Personally I like the English style better. It is not quite so brittle, and the people as a rule, just wear clothes and drink…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/personally-i-like-the-english-style-better-it-is-not-quite-so-brittle/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/in-everything-that-can-be-called-art-there-is-a-quality-of-redemption/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“Reading is fuel for the brain. Writing is fuel for the spirit...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-s-johnston/reading-is-fuel-for-the-brain-writing-is-fuel-for-the-spirit/) Megan S. Johnston ## More by Robert Coover > [I learned my realism from guys like Kafka.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-learned-my-realism-from-guys-like-kafka/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“She strives, understanding the futility of it, for perfection.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/she-strives-understanding-the-futility-of-it-for-perfection/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [I see no reason to stop writing. But the reason isn't always one of your own. The mind is not invulnerable, and it can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-see-no-reason-to-stop-writing-but-the-reason-isn-t-always-one-of/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [If you start thinking about the kids being born now, for them the computer is ancient history. So one imagines that when children think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/if-you-start-thinking-about-the-kids-being-born-now-for-them-the/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Black holes are the seductive dragons of the universe, outwardly quiescent yet violent at the heart, uncanny, hostile, primeval, emitting a negative radiance that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/black-holes-are-the-seductive-dragons-of-the-universe-outwardly/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“I nearly drownded on the Big River back home, but I didn't. Instead, I come to love the river, though the river never loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-nearly-drownded-on-the-big-river-back-home-but-i-didn-t-instead-i/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [There's no need to inundate the world with books and language. It's just too full already. There's so much rubbish hiding in the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/there-s-no-need-to-inundate-the-world-with-books-and-language-it-s/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Oh, he shouldn't be surprised, he's a Marxist and has nothing but contempt for the bourgeois capitalist press, yet paradoxically he is also somehow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/oh-he-shouldn-t-be-surprised-he-s-a-marxist-and-has-nothing-but/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Why we write. Because art blows life into the lifeless, death into the deathless. Because art's lie is preferable, in truth, to life's beautiful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/why-we-write-because-art-blows-life-into-the-lifeless-death-into-the/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet, was that the whole world was shifting toward digital formats, and that didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/what-i-saw-quite-clearly-in-the-80s-before-the-internet-was-that-the/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [Some ways of naming a generation are fruitful and some are not. Postmodernism is not. It doesn't really say anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/some-ways-of-naming-a-generation-are-fruitful-and-some-are-not/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [People, fearing their own extinction, are willing to accept and perpetuate hand-me-down answers to the meaning of life and death; and, fearing a weakening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/people-fearing-their-own-extinction-are-willing-to-accept-and/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“No matter how much sunlight and fresh air she lets in, there’s always this dark little pocket of lingering night which she has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/no-matter-how-much-sunlight-and-fresh-air-she-lets-in-there-s-always/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [We need myths to get by. We need story; otherwise the tremendous randomness of experience overwhelms us. Story is what penetrates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/we-need-myths-to-get-by-we-need-story-otherwise-the-tremendous/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“...'Well, I think of you as a straight shooter, Sheriff, but one who can't stop lustin' after the goddamn ineffable.' "She said that, hunh?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/well-i-think-of-you-as-a-straight-shooter-sheriff-but-one-who-can-t/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Explore all 24 Robert Coover quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) ## More Fiction quotes > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) Phil Hogan > [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-thing-about-science-fiction-is-that-it-s-totally-wide-open-but-it/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [I do think that theater is a great venue for science fiction, and not just adaptations but also original work. I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/) Edward Einhorn > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) Coheed and Cambria > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/) [L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/) > [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. I could feel his breath on my face our lips were about to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-eglinger/his-hands-on-my-waist-he-gently-pulled-me-n-embrace-i-could-feel-his/) [Nicole Eglinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-eglinger/) > [In early drafts, one of the trickiest things for me to do was to realize that the techniques and devices that make readable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-rooney/in-early-drafts-one-of-the-trickiest-things-for-me-to-do-was-to/) [Kathleen Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-rooney/) > [I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/i-don-t-think-it-s-always-a-sign-of-respect-for-persons-inside-or/) [Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/) > [To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/to-be-creative-means-to-connect-it-s-to-abolish-the-gap-between-the/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) [Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges from it can be thought of as metafictional.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Coover" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c95/robert-coover-23200_fiction_metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do_6546.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind…” — Robert Coover", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Coover", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Metafiction says something. It has to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```