Metalepsis in Different Media

Abstract

The generally acknowledged definition of metalepsis excludes the existence of metalepsis in other media than literature. Therefore, one of the aims of the chapter is to analyse the transmediality of metalepsis; that is, its potential to be employed in various media. Based on a number of different specific media products (from the media types of literature and film), the author analyses closely how metalepsis can depend on the modalities of different media. He argues that one can create metalepsis in other ways than only using a narrator’s voice. This is because one can expand the notion of narrative levels, which seems indispensable in the case of metalepsis, to representational levels. Defining metalepsis based on representation rather than narrative voice allows for the study of metalepsis in other media types, of which film is one example.