Does Autofiction Belong to French or Francophone Authors and Readers Only?

Abstract

Karen Ferreira-Meyers analyses autofiction’s contribution to world literature. At its origins, the genre is French, but it soon found its way into Anglophone writing and beyond. Does this mean autofiction has ‘arrived’ as a literary genre? Could it be even more significant: an artistic trend? This chapter gives an overview of how autofiction came about, how it evolved and what its possible definitions/interpretations are today. The author discusses autofictions avant (and après) la lettre in English world literature. Authors such as Knausgaard, Joyce, Hemingway, Baldwin, Roth, J.M. Coetzee, Kraus and Alexie are among those whose works can be interpreted as autofictional.