Parody and metafictionality as defamiliarization devices in Martin Amis’s novel Money: A Suicide Note
Parody and metafictionality as defamiliarization devices in Martin Amis’s novel Money: A Suicide Note

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the way defamiliarization is achieved in Martin Amis’s novel Money: A Suicide Note (1984) through parody, the comical perspective, and the metafictional elements. In the introduction the concept of defamiliarization is briefly explained while the first section describes the use of parody in the novel. Amis’s book parodies several literary techniques and is also a parody – as well as a critique – of the 1980s Britain and America, especially its consumerist ethos. By adopting a comical perspective, Amis creates a distancing effect between himself and the novel’s protagonist, John Self. He is an unreliable and unlikable narrator and often his description borders on the grotesque, which also adds to the defamiliarization effect. The metafictional elements in the novel, discussed in the second section, are also important and they contribute to the distancing effect, by defamiliarizing what is commonly expected from a work of fiction. One of the most important metafictional (or self-referential) elements is the inclusion of the author as a character in the novel. This technique encourages the reader to re-evaluate the relation the author has with their own work, which is now seen from a defamiliarized perspective.

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