ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Metabibliography

Metabibliography, also known as meta-criticism or meta-commentary, is just like talking about a story, but instead of talking about the story itself, we talk about how other people have talked about the story. This means we are looking at what other people have said about the story, and not just the story itself.

For example, let's say we want to talk about the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We can talk about what happens in the story: Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit her grandma, meets the wolf on the way, and the wolf eats both of them. But if we talk about metabibliography, we would not just talk about the story itself. We would also talk about what other people have said about Little Red Riding Hood.

Some people might say that the story is about obedience, as Little Red Riding Hood did not listen to her mother and strayed from the path. Other people might say that the story is about innocence and naivety, as Little Red Riding Hood did not realize that the wolf was not her grandma.

Basically, metabibliography is like looking at a story from different angles and perspectives, and seeing how other people have interpreted it in different ways.
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