Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper investigates the use of metafictional techniques in Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient, with a focus on how these strategies subvert traditional thriller conventions. Drawing on Patricia Waugh’s concept of metafiction—particularly self-reflexivity and unreliable narration—the study conducts a close textual analysis to uncover how narrative form challenges reader expectations and genre boundaries. Findings reveal that Michaelides employs narrative ambiguity and layered storytelling to destabilize conventional notions of truth, identity, and authorship. By foregrounding its own constructedness, The Silent Patient exemplifies postmodern thriller fiction’s capacity for genre innovation and critical self-awareness.
Authors: Saadia Noor, Ali Inan, Muhammad Tanveer Ahmad
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411460803