2. Metagenesis

This article proposes that moments of metanarration and metafiction can make an important contribution to the project of a genetic, manuscript-oriented narratology. When literary texts reflect on their own madeness, this may be fictional invention, but it also can serve as a means to (re)focus the analysis of the manuscripts underlying the text. Metagenesis, I suggest, can be used to expand the genetic dossier and to bring manuscript genetics into further dialogue with narratology. It offers in particular the opportunity to draw on insights from embodied approaches to the study of narrative and literature, as well as bring manuscript genetics further into conversations around literary creativity. In the first section, then, I will define metagenesis and sketch out its place in an enlarged genetic dossier. In the second section, I propose an example analysis of two passages from Charlotte Brontë’s writings to demonstrate how metagenetics works in practice. The third section, finally, addresses theoretical and methodological challenges that may arise from such a dialogue between manuscript genetics, narratology and literary studies, and propose a number of ways in which they can be met.