Practices of Autofiction

One of the more sensational developments in contemporary literature in the United States is the emergence of so-called “autofiction,” an abbreviation of the term “autobiographical fiction.” But what is distinctive about this literary form, if anything, and what is behind its current popularity? Does it, as one prominent theorist has proposed, denote “a new craving for reality in contemporary literature,” or is its significance on the contrary, in the words of another critic, that it “neatly and economically poses the question of the self as fiction”? This course will survey a range of “autofictional” practices in literature, art, and film, and consider several explanations for this wave of interest. Authors include Knausgaard, E. Hardwick, G. Murnane, Teju Cole, Sophie Calle, J. Panahi, Paul B. Preciado, A. Ernaux, F. Jameson, T. Moi, A. Kim.