Breaking the Fourth Wall/Literature: Difference between revisions

* The very first novel written in a recognizable format was ''[[Don Quixote (Literature)|Don Quixote]]''. Its sequel features Don Quixote, the book, the author, fans of the book and a fake sequel written by a man who was not the original author, leading to the hero having to track down the Don Quixote from the fake sequel to get him to sign away his rights to the name/concept, in order that the real author can write a real sequel. That makes this apparently postmodern trope older than Shakespeare.

* ''[[House of Leaves]]'' is unique in the fact that it has ''two'' fourth walls. The majority of the story lies in ''The Navidson Record'', telling the story of a {{color|blue|house}} with some [[Bigger Onon the Inside|interesting features]]. While reading, it's easy to forget that the {{color|blue|house}} doesn't even exist in the context of the novel. (Narrator/Editor Johnny Truant states this in the foreword, but even he eventually forgets this fact). However, there are several asides in the text of the ''Record'' to remind the reader that "none of this ever happened." Early on, a paragraph about the Navidson's famous friends is riddled with blanks, as if Zampano had yet to decide which celebrities to fill in the blanks with. Later, in Will's drunken apology letter to Karen, <s>{{color|red|struck out text}}</s> reveals a list of characters who do not appear in the novel. Finally, both Will ''and'' Johnny find and read books titled ''{{color|blue|House}} of Leaves,'' which [[Mind Screw|brings up paradoxes]] [[Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|perhaps better left unexplored...]]

* At the end of ''The [[Illuminatus]] Trilogy,'' the main character realizes that he is merely a fictional character and that the events of the book are just that: events in a book. He then goes on to analyze some of the more [[Mind Screw|mindscrewy]] aspects of the novel, and to criticize the author for placing more importance on [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Didactic?|symbolism]] than on [[No Ending|giving the book a satisfying conclusion.]]

{{quote| Trollope veers from extreme to the next - at one point ''in Barchester Towers'' he is describing how he has sat and passed time in the titular cathedral and expressed personal enmity to one of the characters, at another he is telling us he needs to pad out the novel by 12 pages. }}

{{quote| ''Have you ever been approached by a grim-looking man, carrying a naked sword with a blade about ten miles long in his hand, in the middle of the night, beneath the stars on the shores of Lake Michigan? If you have, seek professional help.''}}

* The short story [https://web.archive.org/web/20121229041806/http://www.stanleythewhale.com/StW/index.php/issue-1/issue-1-short-stories/45-the-van-on-atlantic-street "The Van on Atlantic Street"] by Desmond Warzel pauses briefly to address the reader and reassure him that he has nothing to fear should he encounter the eponymous van.

* The authors of ''[[Kill Time or Die Trying (Literature)|Kill Time or Die Trying]]'' are also characters in the book, since it is a dramatisation of events they were part of. There is a time period covered by the book in which they had already started writing the book, so the Fourth Wall effectively doesn't exist, since the people involved were all aware that they had become the subject of a book.

{{quote| '''Brad:''' Who is that?<br />