metareference
Etymology
From meta- + reference.
metareference means A technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why “metareference” is a great word
METAREFERENCE — [Noun] A specific technique in metafiction whereby a character, element, or device within a work displays awareness of being part of a fictional or dramatic construct. From the prefix meta- (meaning "beyond" or "about its own category") + reference (meaning "an allusion or mention"). Unlike "metafiction" (which broadly denotes the entire self-conscious genre) or "self-reference" (which is any simple recursion without commentary), metareference is the precise, winking intrusion of the artifice into the artifice itself. It is the actor breaking the fourth wall in a shaft of sudden light; the cartoon character scrambling for a new page as their cliff-edge crumbles; the narrator who pauses to complain about the clumsiness of the plot they inhabit—a fleeting, vertiginous glimpse of the scaffolding, reminding us that every story is a deliberate and fragile construction.
noun
- A technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.“The poem's second line, for example, concludes with the lament "but my nerves. Lord these pensive endings." The latter can be read as a play on words, as in "nerve endings"; as a metareference to the end of that particular line; or even against the very end of the poem itself: "the darkness now confronts me . . ."”