Metafictional Eponymousness
Inspired by simultan's author-biographical thread, c/o TLS Oct 27, 2006:
I thought Dick's Man in the High Castle must qualify, but then I realized that the book is only alluded to, and not explicitly referenced.
Metafictional references in fiction: in which a character in a novel is reading or writing a book of the same name as that in which he or she features (see NB, October 13 etc). A former editor of the TLS, Jeremy Treglown, sends us a double example from Henry Green's last novel, Doting (1952). Mr Treglown (who is Green's biographer) writes: "The central character, Arthur, is infatuated with a nineteen-year-old, Annabel, one of whose boyfriends is an aspiring poet.
Annabel teases Arthur with the information that her boyfriend is editing an anthology of love poetry called Doting. Arthur replies, 'Well, you know doting, to me is not loving'". As Mr Treglown points out, "Loving is the title of an earlier novel of Green's".
The Complete Metafictional Catalogue (so far) consists of: The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith; Cain's Book by Alexander Trocchi; Don Quixote by Cervantes; The Ellery Queen Mysteries by Ellery Queen (featuring Ellery Queen); Molloy by Samuel Beckett; A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; The Third Man by Graham Greene.
Comments
Kertesz's Liquidation, I think, does qualify.
Metafictional references in fiction: in which a character in a novel is reading or writing a book of the same name as that in which he or she features
If you take this at face value as long as the book-in-the-book has the same title as the book itself, it counts. So the definition is fairly broad.
House of Leaves is another one.