Metafiction

In metafiction, the author intentionally calls attention to the fact that the reader is reading a created work. This self-awareness is a conscious and deliberate contrast to the typical escapism of most literary works, wherein authors attempt to create worlds so believable that the reader can overlook the fact that the worlds of the story are, in fact, an artificial creation. In Song of Susannah, King uses metafictional devices on several levels. Throughout the book, the main characters realize that one of the ka-tet, Father Callahan, appears as a literary character in a book written in the "real world" by an author named Stephen King. Indeed, Callahan was a primary character in King's 'Salem's Lot. This leads them to wonder if they all might be characters in some book. Additionally, the novelist himself appears as a character in the book and interacts with his fictional creations. Finally, King...