Mise en abyme [acc. ii Wikipedia]

a paradigm of the intertextual nature of language, the way language never quite reaches the foundation of reality because it refers in a frame-in-frame way to other language, which refers to other language, etc.

The Subject Steve: A Novel: Sam Lipsyte

…an intriguing experimental concept, but the absence of coherent, linear plot means the commentary must be particularly sharp and interesting, and much of what Lipsyte offers is rambling, self-absorbed and at times just plain annoying. The troubles of the alienated and estranged offer plenty of opportunities for an adventurous approach, but much of what Lipsyte submits is familiar, a mannered echo, product of a sensibility halfway between Lish and Vonnegut.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The Subject Steve: A Novel: Books: Sam Lipsyte Editorial Review by Travis Elborough

Wordplay rather than characterization is Lipsyte’s métier and his language positively fizzes with invention. The characters here don’t so much converse as exchange obtuse epigrammatic non sequiturs and indulge in linguistic quips. This should, of course, be utterly infuriating, but it isn’t. The dialogue, like the rest of this savage, absurdist take on contemporary life (and more precisely our horror of death), is startlingly acute