Autofiction

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

For the novel by Hitomi Kanehara, see Autofiction (novel).
For the predominantly modernist genre that combines autobiography and fiction, see autobiografiction.

Serge Doubrovsky coined the term in 1977 with reference to his novel Fils. 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.[1] Elizabeth Hardwick's novel Sleepless Nights and Chris Kraus's I Love Dick have been deemed early seminal works popularizing the form of autofiction. The genre is associated with autobiographical novels by both women and queer authors. Critics and journalists have polarizing views on the genre.

In India, autofiction has been associated with the works of Hainsia Olindi and postmodern Tamil writer Charu Nivedita. His novel Zero Degree, a groundbreaking work in Tamil literature and his recent Novel Marginal Man are examples of this genre.[2] In Urdu the fiction novels of Rahman Abbas are considered major work of autofiction, especially his two novels Nakhalistan Ki Talash (Search of an Oasis) and Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Ankh Micholi (Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God).[3] Japanese author Hitomi Kanehara wrote a novel titled Autofiction.

Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to modify significant details and characters, using fictive subplots and imagined scenarios with real life characters in the service of a search for self. In this way, autofiction shares similarities with the Bildungroman as well as the New Narrative movement and has parallels with faction, a genre devised by Truman Capote to describe his novel In Cold Blood.

Autofiction is a genre of postmodern literature which includes New Narrative, Magical Realism (pejoratively called Hysterical Realism by critic James Wood), and Deflationary Realism, amongst others.

Notable Authors

See also

References
  1. 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/vill15080.9. ISBN 0231150806. JSTOR 10.7312/vill15080.9.
  2. My novel was treated like a song of freedom: Economic Times Interview
  3. Too ‘Obscene’ For Islamic Orthodoxy: An Urdu Writer’s Experience Of Writing His 1st Novel, YKA - Youth Ki Awaaz, 13 November 2015
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