Abstract: Instead of being an experimental art form that is exclusively obsessed with linguistic game,contemporary western metafiction is a dialectic synthesis of cultural criticism,artistic practice and cultural event.To begin with,it is a theoretical construct that stems from contemporary literary theory in the sense that the textual self-reflexivity it exhibits is synonymous with anti-humanism and anti-essentialism that were popular in the humanities in contemporary western world.Meanwhile,as an artistic practice,it is ever fleeing the narrow confines of theoretical discourse.By foregrounding the internal paradox of literature,metafiction creates a hermeneutic space that lies between autonomy and heteronomy.But as the art practice enters into the historical process,metafiction,which is a hallmark of contemporary avant-garde,stands in an ambiguous relationship with the mass culture industry,the result of which could be a weakening of its supposedly subversive potentials.Only through a dialectic understanding of metafiction could we circumvent the simplistic emphasis of current studies on the dimension of formal experiment.

Key words: metafiction, critical construct, artistic practice, cultural event