Glossary 7
Short-story cycle Also referred to as a short-story sequence, short-story
novel, or composite novel. Occupying a space between the novel and the
short-story collection, it lacks a single plotline; the individual stories achieve
a unity through a recurrent setting, reappearing characters, or thematic
similarities.
Self-reflexive Adjective describing a work that deliberately draws attention to
its own fictionality or artifice.
Simulacrum An image of an image, with no stable referent or reality underly-
ing the latter. The literary theorist Jean Baudrillard considers it a key element
of Postmodernism. Plural: simulacra.
Spanglish The mingling of Spanish and English in speech by people who are
fluent in both languages and find themselves moving between the two cul-
tures in their everyday lives (see code-switching, above).
Trickster A figure in myth or folklore who is neither good nor evil but may be
self-serving. Tricksters tend to wreak havoc, turn the standard order upside
down, and use magic or deceit to create situations from which readers or
observers within the work may gain new knowledge and insights. Sherman
Alexie and Michael Chabon use tricksters in their writings.