Creation: Critical Appendix

Critical Appendix

Type: Poem.

Technique: Metafiction.

Theme: Dream.

            It can be posited that language is the very basis upon which reality is constructed. Though some debate the order, language influences thought; it’s how we see, describe and relate to the world, both fictionally, and non-fictionally (Everett 2013, p. 1). That is, humans use language to tell stories about themselves and about their reality as a means to construct it, define it, and make sense of it (Kearny 1995, pp. 222-23). However, language is enigmatic. The words that make up a language change meaning depending on context, or how the writer wants their reader to interpret them (Holmes 2008, p. 1; Waugh 2001, p. 4). It this idea of defining reality and the self within it, being influenced by Labyrinths (Borges 2000), that frames the poem Creation, and explores this through the metafiction technique, the simulacra as well as the theme of dream, of which will be discussed below.

            Hall (2013, p.18) says that ‘movies double as dreams’, that the viewer walks into the darkness of a cinema as one goes into the darkness of slumber, see images played out before him, and then the lights turn on and the viewer awakens with new memories. Therefore, the title of the poem, Creation, paired with its beginning ‘…darkness’ invites the reader into the realm of creation, that of dream, and asks for them to begin with a, more or less, blank mind, just as one would have when falling asleep. What then plays out is a series of disjointed and dream like connected events. The speaker sees himself reflected in surrounding mirrors, walks through them, breaks them, sees words instead of a reflection and then a man behind the words, and then appears in that room, and then in a similar manner appears in an infinite library, and then the lights come on. Buñuel and Dali (cited in Liebman 2004, p. 143-147) used the dreamscape in Un Chien Andalou as a means to project a series of images in a disjunct and seemingly unrelated chronology allowing for some strange and unorthodox readings to take place and questions the normal means that people use to make sense of things. Similarly, Creation uses a series of poetic images to disrupt the normal narrative, however, the sequences relate, more so than Un Chien. Further, the use of dream can be used to critique the perseverance of reality (Hall 2013, p.18-20). Thus Creation uses dream through the means of a poem to set the stage to critique the instability of language to relate to and construct reality and consequently, the self, which is then reinforced and explored through the use of metafiction

Metafiction is a term that describes a fiction that knows it’s a work of fiction, and within it comments on its own narrative and or linguistic identity (Waugh 2001, p. 2; Worthington 2001, p.114). Or in the words of Wallace (1997) ‘…if Realism simply called it as it saw it, metafiction simply called it as it saw itself seeing itself see it.’ Further, by drawing attention to the text’s own fictitiousness metafiction is used to critique the relationship between fiction and reality which allows the writer to explore ‘the possible fictionality [sic] of the world outside the literary text’ (Waugh 2001, p.2). The use of this technique in Creation is seen when the speaker is surrounded by shards of the broken mirrors which beheld the images of himself just before, and upon picking it up he reads ‘POETRY’, which comes from the Greek word ‘poeio’ which means ‘I create’ (Poetry, 2005). Thus, it is eluded to that the self that he expects to see in the reflection of the mirror is created, through a poetic or, creative and fictional means. Another instance of the use of metafiction is when the speaker sees the man at a desk writing the beginning of the poem into a book with his finger. This further critiques the fictitiousness of the world outside the poem by drawing attention to itself as a literary form inside a fictional world, and poses the question of authenticity in regards to how the speaker perceives his life, and consequently the lives of those outside of the poem as well (Waugh 2001, p. 2-3). Further, the idea of linguistic construction of self is influenced by the parables ‘Borges and I’, and, ‘Everything and Nothing’ by Borges (2000, pp. 282-85).  Another idea found in those parables is the multiplicity of selves. This, as well as the term simulacra will further be discussed in relation to Creation and how it links the linguistic construction of self to that of the simulacrum of language.

            The simulacrum is that which confuses the distinction between reality, illusion, and its representation (Boulter p. 357). It simulates the real. Further, Borges (2000) implements the use of the simulacrum in his short story ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertiu’s because in it the writer talks about an imaginary world that he discovered through an extensive and imaginary encyclopaedia, written by imaginary writers. However, just as the library in ‘The Library of Babel’ (Borges 2000, p. 78) represents our universe, Tlön represents our world. They simulate the fictitious construction of our own, and they do so with words. Further, Boulter (2001, p.361) suggests that language does the same thing in that it imitates the original it’s describing (Boulter 2001, p.361). That is, language uses words to represent, or imitate, something found or experienced in the physical world, and through this people are able to think about it and relate to it. The idea that language is a simulation of the real, and the link between that and language and the construction of the self, and the world we perceive is explored in Creation when the speaker consults a dictionary right after being pulled into a library through the book of a faceless old man. Dictionaries are meant to define what something is, however, upon reading he discovers there are multiple definitions for the word he is searching for, of which is language. Additionally, because language is used by people to relate to and define the self, he is actually searching for his original, or his definition of self, which is further reinforced when he flips the page of the dictionary and sees himself in another mirror. This also alludes to how people have different ‘selves’ or characters in which they play (Waugh 2001, p. 3) by  displaying the multiple definitions of the word, as well as the reappearance of others in the mirror. Also metafiction and the simulacrum are working together here because when he sees himself, off to the side is the word ‘reflecting.’ The mirror reflects the speaker, however, the reader of the poem doesn’t see a mirror, they read a word, and in that, the word (of which represents a mirror) reflects the self. In having the speaker of the poem be reflected in a dictionary, attention is drawn to how people see themselves in language in a similar way that people see themselves in a mirror. However, both simulate the original, like a dictionary, of which uses an original through the representation of a representation of another original, and so on or, simply, words are defined by more words. Further, because language is only a representation, the idea and meaning of the original gets distorted and things get misconstrued, and or are simply just hard to fathom (Everett 2013, p. 3). Creation’s use of simulacra and metafiction together critiques the ways in which people define themselves, and their world, and asks who or what the original is.  

Creation uses dream to construct a perceived world in which illogical things take place. This theme is explored with the use of the metafiction technique and the simulacrum, and is further influenced by Borges’ creative work on similar ideas. What results is a depiction of reality that is perceived through language, and the use of the said conventions critiques the enigmatic way we use language, especially as a means to define ourselves and the world. All of which culminates into the suggestion that we live in a word that is, in a sense, filled with mirrors that are mirroring other mirrors, and people peer into them as a means to search for and define the original. 

Author's Note

If you haven't already, read my poem, Creation, before reading this. Reference list omitted. Let me know if you want it