Self-insertion

Sandro Botticelli's painting of the Adoration of the Magi has an "inserted self-portrait". The position in the (right) corner, and the gaze out to the viewer, are very typical of such self-portraits.

Self-insertion is a literary device in which a fictional character who is the real author of a work of fiction appears as an idealized character within that fiction, either overtly or in disguise.^[1]

The device should not be confused with a first-person narrator, or an author surrogate, or a character somewhat based on the author, whether intentionally or not. Many characters have been described as unintentional self-insertions, implying that their author is unconsciously using them as an author surrogate.

In art, the equivalent is the "inserted self-portrait", where the artist paints a self-portrait in a narrative subject, which has been common since at least the Renaissance.

Examples

• The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham.
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut^[2][3]
• The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles^[4]
• Stan Lee in different Marvel comic books and movies.
• Clive Cussler author of Dirk Pitt novels, has inserted himself as a deus ex machina character in several of his books.^[5]
• Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais, in the chapter "How Pantagruel with his tongue covered a whole army, and what the author saw in his mouth."
• Milton: A Poem in Two Books by William Blake.
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
• The title character of the Rush Revere series by Rush Limbaugh.
• I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
• Homestuck by Andrew Hussie

See also

• Self-reference
• Mary Sue

References

1. Goetz, Sharon K. (2010-04-01). Terminus: Collected Papers on Harry Potter, 7-11 August 2008. Lulu.com. pp. 516–. ISBN 9780982680704. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
2. Mason, Fran (2009). The A to Z of Postmodernist Literature and Theater. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 338–. ISBN 9780810868557. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
3. Klinkowitz, Jerome (1992). Structuring the Void: The Struggle for Subject in Contemporary American Fiction. Duke University Press. pp. 52–. ISBN 9780822312055. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
4. The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
5. http://clive-cussler-books.com/dirk-pitt-revealed/

External links

• tvtropes: Author Avatar