Unmasking history: revealing authoritarian regimes and propaganda through the lens of metafiction

Abstract

The research paper examines how Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad both employ the blending of fact and fiction, especially through metafiction, to criticise repressive historical regimes, reimagine oppressive institutions and their lasting effects. Both the novels reveal fundamental historical discourses and show how controlling structures like slavery, colonialism and dictatorship cause not just physical violence but long-lasting psychological trauma. By intertwining personal narratives with larger historical forces, the authors expose how the past continues to shape present identities and freedoms in ways that often appear fantastical. The purpose of this study is to examine how metafiction can use multiple literary tools to replicate, restore the past and offer an opportunity to reimagine it. It discloses the multi dimensional realities and how truth takes shape with time. There are much deeper meanings to just basic characters, their lived experiences and collective memory. This research paper will present the significant factual and historical narratives that challenge economical, sociopolitical debates and racial injustice. The paper will further show that these literary techniques not only reimagine historical events but also act as powerful vehicles for critiquing, offering readers deeper insights into the persistence of systemic injustice and the construction of identity in postcolonial settings and postmodern contexts.