Staging Illusion: Metafiction and the Crisis of Reality in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BAKEA- 9th International Western Cultural and Literary Studies Symposium, Konya, Türkiye, 15 - 17 Eylül 2025, ss.158-164, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Konya
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.158-164
- İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) by Edward Albee is a captivating investigation of fiction as a structural and existential requirement, as well as a thematic concern. This study examines the play via Linda Hutcheon's theoretical lens of metafiction, which highlights fiction's self-reflexivity, performativity, and ability to challenge the boundaries between narrative fabrication and real experience. The drama revolves around George and Martha's creation of an imagined child, which acts as both a coping strategy and a symbolic framework for the couple's damaged relationship. Rather than concealing illusion, the play reveals the deliberate building of narrative as a coping mechanism for psychological trauma, unmet expectations, and interpersonal disillusionment. The dramatic structure maintains its metafictional aspect by organizing performances around performative "games," highlighting the performative dimension of language and identity. George and Martha are constantly creating narratives and performing roles, mirroring Hutcheon's claim that metafictional works highlight their own textuality while also revealing the volatility of meaning and truth. This study contends that Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? works as an archetypal work of dramatic metafiction, in which fiction serves not only as a representation but also as an active, formative force in the characters' lives. In this setting, Albee's play provides a profound commentary on the interplay between illusion and reality, as well as the fictions that both preserve and degrade human connection.