FRAGMENTATION AND METAFICTION: A LYOTARDIAN’S POSTMODERNISM IN THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK BY DORIS LESSING

Abstract

The current study deals with important features of postmodern literature including fragmentation, meta-fiction, intertextuality, and narrative instability in The Golden Note Book by Doris Lessing. Lessing investigates the shattered identity of Anna Wulf, the protagonist, by means of her unusual four color-coded notebook and framing story, so mirroring postmodernism's doubt about consistent selfhood and cohesive stories. The book addresses feminist issues in a postmodern context even as it criticizes great ideas, especially in the areas of politics and gender. To address these objectives, the study employs Jean François Leotard’s postmodern theory. The Golden Notebook questions traditional storytelling and emphasizes the built character and narrative by blurring the lines between fiction and truth. The findings demonstrates to look at how Lessing's book portrays psychological breakdown and the search for meaning in a divided society by using and criticizing postmodern methods.