I think Francis Sanchez offered a more general definitition of
"metatextual", but this is not to say that Hunter Kid's description is
"wrong", he simply offered a specific sort of definition by example.

I agree that what's involved is usually some kind of "stepping back" to put
the subject in some larger framework, thus the prefex "meta". (It's not a
confusion with "metaphysical", though one may draw analogies.

In the context of discussion here, I tend to bring in considerations that
Ranma 1/2 _is_ a story with an author, writing in a particular style, and
this is what gets called "metatextual".

But at the same time, I'm saying these things, I'd like you not to take
these words too seriously. "Metatextuality" is a relative thing, and
there's more than one way of being "metatextual".

If I had a deconstructionist hat to put on, right now, I might do so, but I
don't really think I have one. I'll offer a point which really comes from
discussions of theology:

"Texts do not interpret themselves." Whenever we read a text, we are
bringing in some kind of context: knowlege of culture, language, human
nature to interpret the text. So while it's possible to try to stay close
to the original text, I don't think there's some absolutely pure way to
read a text that brings in nothing from the outside.

In a discussion, I think the best we can hope to do is make clear _what_
context we are speaking in at a particular time. (There are no "objective"
observers.)

And, as I've said above, there are lots of ways to interpret a text.

I tend to bring in more than one kind of interpretation at a time. I'm not
sure that this leads to the most straightforward kind of debate, but I
think it is a good "reality check".

If we ignore some kinds of interpretation, we may end up straining at gnats
to produce a "logical" explaintion within a particular realm, while a much
simpler explaintion exists elsewhere.

Thus, I've suggested in the past that Ranma 1/2 is a comedy, and thus has
running jokes, or that it is is a story with protagonists (Ranma and Akane)
who have certian "advantages" and distingushing characteristics as a result.

It may also be worth reminding ourselves that this is a story written as a
weekly serial, whose sales depended in part on producing a certian number
of cliff-hangers to keep people coming back. You can read Ranma 1/2 like a
novel, but some of its structure comes from the division into episodes. In
this, it is not unlike the works of Charles Dickens, which also were mainly
written as serials, and have a similar profusion of sub-plots an minor
characters.

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    Albert Lunde                      Albert-Lunde@nwu.edu