Metafiction and the Dark Tower Series

One of the interesting things that Stephen King does in the Dark Tower series is the use of metafiction as a major plot device

I looked up metafiction in Wikipedia and this is what I found

Metafiction
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Metafiction is a type of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction.
It is the term given to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. It usually involves irony and is self-reflective. It can be compared to presentational theatre in a sense; presentational theatre does not let the audience forget they are viewing a play, and metafiction does not let the readers forget they are reading a work of fiction.

Metafiction is primarily associated with Modernist and Postmodernist literature but can be found at least as far back as Cervantes' Don Quixote and even Chaucer's 14th Century Canterbury Tales.

Some common metafictive devices include:
A novel about a person writing a novel. (Secret Window, Secret Garden)
A novel about a person reading a novel. (Neverending Story)
A story that addresses the specific conventions of story, such as title, paragraphing or plots.
A non-linear novel, which can be read in some order other than beginning to end.
Narrative footnotes, which continue the story while commenting on it.
A novel in which the author is a character.
A story that anticipates the reader's reaction to the story.
Characters who do things because those actions are what they would expect from characters in a story.
Characters who express awareness that they are in a work of fiction (also known as breaking the fourth wall).
A work of fiction within a fiction.

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Without giving away anything (remember, I have a strict no spoilers policy here), King uses metafiction by introducing characters, places, concepts and names in the Dark Tower series that appear in his other books and in other popular books, movies and music. Examples include references to characters from the Stand, the introduction of a character from "Salem's Lot" and a major discussion of that book, the characters entering a ruined city and finding an old computer playing a snippet of a ZZ Top song, etc.

The use of metafiction by King does serve the purposes described above in the definition. As a reader, they are often shocking or amusing. To be reading a story about a world that includes gunslingers, wizards, and old robots and then to have them encounter someone at a bar singing "Hey Jude" is jarring to a reader. But in this case it also reinforces one of the key points of the series - that all worlds are connected. But introducing things from our world into the strange landscapes of Mid-World, King helps to remind the reader of these connections.

[Again, there is a great deal more I could say here, but it would spoil some of these books, especially Wolves of the Calla, so I just won't say it.]