Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Have you ever read a story that contains another story? Or about a writer creating a story? Discuss the elements you recall from this story.

If you haven’t experienced a story like this, answer this prompt instead: Why do you think an author would write a story about an author writing a story?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may be familiar with this type of story from such plays as A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Hamlet, or even the movie Birdman. Asking students to recall familiar examples of a story within a story might help prepare them for the story within “A Conversation with My Father.”

• This page from Grammarly gives an overview of the term “meta.”

2. What do you know about postmodernism? If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, conduct brief online research of definitions and examples of this term; try to discover what postmodernism says about the world. Once you’re familiar with postmodernism, answer this prompt: Do you agree with the postmodernist view of art, culture, and reality? Why or why not?