| Zusammenfassung: | This reading of three Swahili novels by Said Ahmed Mohamed (Zanzibar/Tanzania) and Kyallo Wamitila (Kenya), published during the last decade, identifies metatextualities as a common feature that has not yet been explored. I argue for using "metatextualities" in the plural and as an umbrella term that denotes a variety of elements in a text that comment on, or refer to, the text itself, one or several groups of texts, or a broader subject or discipline. My reading of selected passages from the novels concentrates on different subtypes of metanarration. It looks at the way different aspects of narration (inspiration, narration as a process, narrative paradigms) are discussed and reflected on by each text and in each text itself, and it is interested in metareferences to literature and the arts in general. I also examine whether metatextualities serve to enhance or to reduce the distance between the text and the reader. Furthermore, I discuss whether the occurrence, frequency, and sophistication of metatextualities relate to the different paradigms of postcolonial Swahili writing—(new) realism, postrealism, and blended writing—or whether they are primarily linked to the background of the individual writer.
|
|---|