Hypostasis (literature)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hypostasis (from Greek hypo- "below" + stasis "standing") is the essence of metafiction, a rare, literary moment when characters in fiction become aware of their own fictional nature.
The debut of hypostasis in literature occurs in Don Quixote, Part 2, Chapter 2, when Sancho announces to Don Quixote that a book has been written about their adventures. Thus, these literary characters become aware that they are literary characters. This scene so impressed Jorge Luis Borges that he devoted one of his most famous essays to it: Partial Enchantments in the Quixote.'"[1]