Javad Ebrahimi

Seeking to free us from the clutches of our self-made rigid conventions, postmodernism criticizes the metanarratives of modern times, while metafiction seems a better spokesman of it. New York Trilogy, Paul Auster’s debut composition and a meta-detective novel, has secured its fame in the postmodern fiction. It uses and abuses the conventions of detective novel, and lays bare the conventions of objective historiography. In doing this, Auster has given a self-reflective and equally historical dimension to his oeuvre through the technique of “historiographic metafiction”. Linda Hutcheon sees “historiographic metafiction” as a way to rewrite history in postmodern fiction. Postmodernism seeks to embrace a plurality of truths, and history is no longer monolithic and objective. Hutcheon contends that the postmodernist fiction is characterized by intense self-reflexivity and overtly parodic intertextuality. Utilizing historical accounts as intertextual effects, the writers of postmodernist fiction distrust in history. The present article will attempt to analyze New York Trilogy as a “historiographic metafiction”. Firstly, and insofar as it is within the scope of the article, it will attempt to offer a critical analysis of “postmodernism”, “metafiction”, and “metaphysical detective fiction”. Then, it will examine Auster’s novel as a “historiographic metafiction” in the light of Hutcheon’s theories.

Ernest Hemingway wrote the short story of Hills like White Elephants in 1927. In the short story, Hemingway illustrates the power relation between a couple who are in the middle of making a serious decision- the girl is pregnant and she wants to keep the baby, but the man insists on the abortion operation- which will eventually affects the status of their relationship.  The aim of this study is a narrative analysis of Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants. The study discusses the basic narrative elements of space and dialogue and then it goes further to illuminate how Hemingway manages to give work an artistic effect through appropriate use of narrative elements.

Theories of French sociologist, philosopher and cultural theorist, Jean Baudrillard, regarding philosophy of the cinema and what constitutes the nature of reality, has been widely influential in cinematic studies in recent years. In his works, Baudrillard has referred to a number of films to investigate some of his key concepts concerning the nature of reality. He believes that cinema is a medium of dream and illusion. But, in the present era what we see on screen is "hyperreality". Coined by Baudrillard, hyperreality is a situation in which the simulated reality is no longer distinguishable from the reality. In other words, by creating an exact copy or, in Baudrillardian terms, a simulacrum which possesses no originality, simulation replaces the profound reality to the extent that the real is not recognizable.
    American Hustle (2013) is a movie directed by David O. Russell about a group of con artists who unwantedly involve in an FBI operation to entrap criminals and politicians. Throughout the movie the notion of Baudrillardian hyperreality is at work. This paper is an attempt to trace the hyperreality and reversibility in Russell's movie. The Study begins with a brief introduction of America in Baudrillard's view as well as an introductory synopsis of the movie. Then, it goes on further by probing the hyperrealistic aspects of American Hustle and finally, it presents a short survey on what constitutes the good cinema.