Torches and tears is a metafictional novel belonging to the literature of postmodernism. The social and historical background of this era was marked by development of technological society and the automation of art. Both of these processes also influenced the features of postmodern literature such as metafiction, which encompasses the interlacement of the classical and popular literature and postmodern intertextuality. The latter prevents the reader from identifying with the text and blurs the lines between what is fictional and what is real. All these characteristics can also be found in Blatnik's novel, which is permeated by the interlacement of various genres, self-reflective comments and quotations, which parodically connect to the Slovenian and world literature. With this novel, Blatnik came close to the so-called American metafiction, which does not only make intertextual references within the literary world but it streches beyond it and incorporates other media as well. Torches and tears is, consequently, related to Andrej Tarkovsky's Stalker, a film based on Arkady and Boris Strugacky's novel titled The Roadside Picnic.
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