self-referential
Pointing at itself
Self-referential describes something that refers to or comments on itself.
A novel about a novelist writing a novel is self-referential.
The statement This sentence is false is self-referential—and paradoxical.
The term appears often in discussions of postmodern art, logic, and meta-humor: The show's self-referential jokes reward longtime viewers.
Curve closing on itself
- recursionProcess invoking itself
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- fractalShape repeating at every scale
- feedbackReturned response data
nesting · infinite regress · circular · cyclical · Droste effect · Escher · ouroboros · self-replicating
Invisible stage-audience barrier
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
- self-awareConscious of own existence
- self-consciousUncomfortably aware of oneself
- postmodernSkeptical of metanarratives
Borges · Deadpool · frame story · unreliable narrator · authorial intrusion · breaking character · lampshading · self-documenting
Artist's image of themselves
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- confessionalBooth for admitting sins
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
aside · mirror scene · Velázquez · Rembrandt · reflexive · vanity · cameo · behind-the-scenes
Done for appearance's sake
- quotationCited passage or price
- scare quotesPunctuation implying doubt
- self-fulfillingMaking itself happen
- incompletenessState of lacking parts
loop
Curve closing on itself
- recursionProcess invoking itself
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- fractalShape repeating at every scale
feedback · nesting · infinite regress · circular · cyclical · Droste effect · Escher · ouroboros · self-replicating · fixed point
fourth wall
Invisible stage-audience barrier
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
- self-awareConscious of own existence
- self-consciousUncomfortably aware of oneself
postmodern · Borges · Deadpool · frame story · unreliable narrator · authorial intrusion · breaking character · lampshading · self-documenting · self-describing
self-portrait
Artist's image of themselves
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- confessionalBooth for admitting sins
soliloquy · aside · mirror scene · Velázquez · Rembrandt · reflexive · vanity · cameo · behind-the-scenes
performative
Done for appearance's sake
- quotationCited passage or price
- scare quotesPunctuation implying doubt
- self-fulfillingMaking itself happen
incompleteness · undecidable · self-contradiction · tautology · metalanguage
- Self-referencerecursion, recursive, meta, infinite regress, circular reasoning
- metafictionfourth wall break, breaking the fourth wall, metanarrative, metafiction, authorial intrusion
- egotismarrogant, conceited, egocentric, egomaniac, egotist
- experimental poetryfound poetry, fragmentation, parataxis, discontinuity, nonlinear narrative
- postmodernismdeconstruction, metafiction, hyperreality, pastiche, metanarrative
self-referentialgrounded
Stable and realistic
non-circular · foundational · well-founded · base case · primitive
refer, referee, reference, referring, references, referred, self-referentiality, referral, referenced