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This innovative volume establishes autofiction as a new and dynamic area of theoretical research in English. Since the term was coined by Serge Doubrovsky, autofiction has become established as a recognizable genre within the French literary pantheon. Yet unlike other areas of French theory, English-language discussion of autofiction has been relatively limited - until now. Starting out by exploring the characteristic features and definitions of autofiction from a conceptual standpoint, the collection identifies a number of cultural, historical and theoretical contexts in which the emergence of autofiction in English can be understood. In the process, it identifies what is new and distinctive about Anglophone forms of autofiction when compared to its French equivalents. These include a preoccupation with the conditions of authorship; writing after trauma; and a heightened degree of authorial self-reflexivity beyond that typically associated with postmodernism.
By concluding that there is such a field as autofiction in English, it provides for the first time detailed analysis of the major works in that field and a concise historical overview of its emergence. It thus opens up new avenues in life writing and authorship research.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Autofiction in English - The Story So Far: Hywel Dix.- 2. Does Autofiction Belong to French or Francophone Authors and Readers only?: Karen Ferreira-Meyers.- 3. Autofiction in the Third Person, with a Reading of Christine Brooke-Rose's Remake: Lorna Martens.- 4. How Art Constitutes the Human: Aesthetics, Empathy and the Interesting in Autofiction: Meg Jensen.- 5. Autoethnography in post-British Literatures: A Comparative Reading of Charlotte Williams and Jackie Kay: Lisa Sheppard.- 6. Graphic Autofiction and the Visualization of Trauma in Lynda Barry and Phoebe Gloeckner's Graphic Memoirs: Olga Michael.- 7. Illness Narratives and the Consolations of Autofiction: Graham J. Matthews.- 8. Lives in Story: Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried: Sarah Foust Vinson.- 9. Unpicked and Remade: Creative Imperatives in John Burnside's Autofictions: Ricarda Menn.- 10) Autofiction as a Reflexive Mode of Thought: Implications for Personal Development: Celia Hunt.- 11. Autofictionalizing Reflective Writing Pedagogies: Risks and Possibilities: Amelia Walker.- 12. Roth is Roth as Roth: Autofiction and the Implied Author: Todd Womble.- 13. Self and Fiction in Walking to Hollywood: Alex Belsey.- 14. Eye to I: American Autofiction and its Contexts from Jerzy Kosinski to Dave Eggers: Bran Nicol.
About the author
Hywel Dix is Principal Lecturer in English and Communication at Bournemouth University, UK. He has published extensively on contemporary British literature, most notably in After Raymond Williams: Cultural Materialism and the Break-Up of Britain (Second Edition, 2013) and Postmodern Fiction and the Break-Up of Britain (2010). His wider research interests include postmodernism, critical cultural theory and life writing. His monograph about literary careers, The Late-Career Novelist,was published in 2017.
Summary
- Applies a concept that has previously only had significant currency in French literary theory to literature in English- Explores characteristic features and definitions of autofiction from a theoretical and conceptual standpoint in the English language - Considers the extent to which certain current Anglophone writers can be considered practitioners of autofiction
