Autofiction

Last updated

Autofiction is, in literary criticism, a form of fictionalized autobiography.

Contents

Definition

In autofiction, an author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to modify significant details and characters, use invented subplots and imagined scenarios with real-life characters in the service of a search for self. In this way, autofiction shares similarities with the Bildungsroman as well as the New Narrative movement and has parallels with faction, a genre devised by Truman Capote to describe his work of narrative nonfiction In Cold Blood . [1]

Serge Doubrovsky coined the term in 1977 with reference to his novel Fils. [2] However, autofiction arguably existed as a practice with ancient roots long before Doubrovsky coined the term. Michael Skafidas argues that the first-person narrative can be traced back to the confessional subtleties of Sappho's lyric "I." [3] Philippe Vilain distinguishes autofiction from autobiographical novels in that autofiction requires a first-person narrative by a protagonist who has the same name as the author. [4] Elizabeth Hardwick's novel Sleepless Nights and Chris Kraus's I Love Dick have been deemed early seminal works popularizing the form of autofiction.[ citation needed ]

Uses

In India, autofiction has been associated with the works of Hainsia Olindi and postmodern Tamil writer Charu Nivedita. His novel Zero Degree (1998), a groundbreaking work in Tamil literature, and his Marginal Man are examples of this genre. [5] In Urdu the fiction novels of Rahman Abbas are considered major work of autofiction, especially his two novels Nakhalistan Ki Talash (In Search of an Oasis) and Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Ankh Micholi (Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God). Japanese author Hitomi Kanehara wrote a novel titled Autofiction . [6] [7]

In a 2018 article for New York magazine 's website Vulture, literary critic Christian Lorentzen wrote, "The term autofiction has been in vogue for the past decade to describe a wave of very good American novels by the likes of Sheila Heti, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Jenny Offill, and Tao Lin, among others, as well as the multivolume epic My Struggle by the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard." He elaborated:

The way the term is used tends to be unstable, which makes sense for a genre that blends fiction and what may appear to be fact into an unstable compound. In the past, I've tried to make a distinction in my own use of the term between autobiographical fiction, autobiographical metafiction, and autofiction, arguing that in autofiction there tends to be an emphasis on the narrator's or protagonist's or authorial alter ego's status as a writer or artist and that the book's creation is inscribed in the book itself. [8]

Notable authors

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autobiography</span> Self-written biography

An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written biography of one's own life.

Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Vonnegut</span> American author (1922–2007)

Kurt Vonnegut was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. He published 14 novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further collections have been published since his death.

A Künstlerroman, meaning "artist's novel" in English, is a narrative about an artist's growth to maturity. It could be classified as a sub-category of Bildungsroman: a coming-of-age novel. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, one way a Künstlerroman may differ from a Bildungsroman is its ending, where a Künstlerroman hero rejects the everyday life, but a Bildungsroman hero settles for being an ordinary citizen. According to Oxford Reference, the difference may lie in a longer view across the Künstlerroman hero's whole life, not just their childhood years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. H. Lawrence</span> English writer and poet (1885–1930)

David Herbert Lawrence was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation and industrialization, while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct. Three of his most famous novels — The Rainbow, Women in Love, and Lady Chatterley's Lover — were the subject of censorship trials for their radical portrayals of sexuality and use of explicit language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural Revolution</span> Period of sociopolitical turmoil in China (1966–1976)

The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society. Though it failed to achieve its main objectives, the Cultural Revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power in China after his political sidelining, in the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Chang</span> Chinese-American writer and screenwriter (1920–1995)

Eileen Chang (traditional Chinese: 張愛玲; simplified Chinese: 张爱玲; pinyin: Zhāng Àilíng; Wade–Giles: Chang1 Ai4-ling2；September 30, 1920 – September 8, 1995), also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing, or by her pen name Liang Jing (梁京), was a Chinese-born American essayist, novelist, and screenwriter.

The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han and Tang dynasties were considered golden ages of poetry, while the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) were notable for their lyrics (ci), essays, dramas, and plays. During the Ming and Qing, mature novels were written in written vernacular Chinese, an evolution from the preeminence of Literary Chinese patterned off the language of the Chinese classics. The introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang and the invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song rapidly spread written knowledge throughout China. Around the turn of the 20th century, the author Lu Xun (1881–1936) is considered an influential voice of vernacular Chinese literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese culture</span>

Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia with Sinosphere in whole and is extremely diverse, with customs and traditions varying greatly between counties, provinces, cities, towns. The terms 'China' and the geographical landmass of 'China' have shifted across the centuries, before the name 'China' became commonplace in modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American literature</span> Literature written in or related to the United States

American literature is literature written or produced in the United States and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature but also includes literature produced in languages other than English.

Alternative literature is a literary movement strongly influenced by internet culture and online publishing. It includes various forms of prose, poetry, and new media. Alt-lit is characterized by self-publication and a presence on social media networks. Alternative literature brings together people with a common interest in the online publishing world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay literature</span> Literary genre

Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Shields</span> American author and film director

David Shields is an American author who has published twenty-four books, including Reality Hunger, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead, Black Planet, and Other People: Takes & Mistakes. The Very Last Interview was published by New York Review Books in 2022.

Michael Silverblatt is a literary critic and American broadcaster who hosted Bookworm, a nationally syndicated radio program focusing on books and literature, from 1989 to 2022. He recorded over 1,600 interviews with authors and other literary figures, including David Foster Wallace, Salman Rushdie, Susan Sontag, William Gass, W. G. Sebald, and John Ashbery.

Rachel Cusk is a British novelist and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tao Lin</span> American novelist

Tao Lin is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of online content. His third novel, Taipei, was published by Vintage on June 4, 2013. His nonfiction book Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change was published by Vintage on May 1, 2018. His fourth novel, Leave Society, was published by Vintage on August 3, 2021.

The Lifted Brow refers to an Australian not-for-profit literary organisation and the quarterly print literary magazine/journal it publishes. Founded in Brisbane, its headquarters was later established in Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literature</span> Written work of art

Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment. It can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Tannahill</span> Canadian playwright, film and theatre director

Jordan Tannahill is a Canadian author, playwright, filmmaker, and theatre director.

My First Time is an ongoing short web series, featuring authors discussing their first published book.

References

  1. ↑ Plimpton, George (16 January 1966). "The Story Behind a Nonfiction Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Investigation of Autofiction & How it Operates in Gwenaelle Aubry's No One". 2017.
  3. ↑ Skafidas, Michael (2019). "Celebrating the Self, Remembering the Body: Desire, Identity, and the Confessional Narrative in Autofictional Verse". ESC: English Studies in Canada. 45 (1–2): 85–111. doi:10.1353/esc.2019.0006. ISSN   1913-4835. S2CID   239359842.
  4. ↑ Vilain, Philippe; Herman, Jeanine (2011). "AUTOFICTION". In Villa Gillet; Le Monde (eds.). The Novelist's Lexicon: Writers on the Words That Define Their Work. Columbia University Press. pp. 5–7. doi:10.7312/vill15080. ISBN   978-0231150804. JSTOR   10.7312/vill15080.9.
  5. ↑ Khan, Faizal. "My novel was treated like a song of freedom: Charunivedita". The Economic Times.
  6. ↑ "Autofiction, By Hitomi Kanehara, trans David James Karashima". The Independent. 29 February 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "Autofiction by Hitomi Kanehara | The Skinny". theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  8. ↑ Lorentzen, Christian (11 May 2018). "Sheila Heti, Ben Lerner, Tao Lin: How 'Auto' Is 'Autofiction'?". Vulture.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.