The Ultimate know-it-all: A study on the role of the narrator and other features of metafiction in Ricky Lee's Para Kay B

• Main Author: Villanueva, Maria Patricia T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2583
• Institution: De La Salle University

Ricky Lees use of Postmodernism in his novel Para kay B (O Kung Paano Dinevastate ng Love ang 4 Out of 5 sa Atin) is the primary focus of this study. The novel chronicles the love stories of its five women characters- stories which embody several critiques in issues regarding gender, love, and politics. Postmodern concepts such as the use of the features of metafiction are used in analyzing the said novel. Using Patricia Waughs ideas on metafiction found in her book Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction, the study is able to prove the status of Para kay B as a work of metafiction because of the presence of these characteristics in the novel: (a) it makes use of an overly intrusive and creative narrator; (b) it problematizes the relationship between literature and reality, and; (c) it calls for a continuous breaking down of particular conventions of fiction writing. The significance of these characteristics lies in their ability to embody the critiques that Lee is making on Philippine society.