Citation/Abstract

This study explores the metafictional devices in English novelist David Mitchell's first book Ghostwritten (1999). More specifically, it attempts to demonstrate how these devices develop the "ghostwriting" metaphor Mitchell applies to the literary construct of fiction in general and the experiential construct of reality. The thesis also attempts to position Mitchell in a tradition of post-Joycean metafiction, illustrating how he belongs to a group of young authors writing more conventional realistic fiction while still retaining the self-conscious elements of their predecessors. Futhermore, this study offers brief examinations of his other three novels and how they fit in relation to his first novel.