Parody, nowadays defined in terms of textual imitation, is
present on a major scale in contemporary British literature (Fowles,
Bradbury, Lodge, Rushdie, Carter...). Together with pastiche —a
multiparodical structure—, they both occupy their place inside the
metafictive discourse of self-conscious novels. D.M. Thomas
(Cornwall, 1935) goes a step further in his treatment of parody and
because of that he has been accused of plagiarism, after publishing
The White Hotel. This essay tries to analyse this debate and study
both parody and pastiche in his previous novels —The Flute-Player
and Birthstone— and, specially, in reference to The Russian
Quartet (Ararat, Swallow, Sphinx, Summit), appeared from 1983 to
1987.
