Radical Realism, Autofictional Narratives and the Reinvention of the Novel

By (author) Fiona J. Doloughan

Publication date:

14 February 2023

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781839983375

This monograph treats modes of fictionality in contemporary auto/biography, memoir and autofiction. Adopting a case study approach, it demonstrates the extent to which contexts of production and reception are important in framing generic expectations with respect to the representation of lived experience and in helping to determine the status of the narrator as (fictional) persona or (implied) author.

Dedication; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Theoretical and Critical Concerns: Key Terms and Arguments; The Anatomy of a Writer: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle; Companion Pieces: Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? in Relation to Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; A Cross-Cultural Memoir: Xiaolu Guo’s Once Upon a Time in the East; Rachel Cusk’s Search for New Forms: Self-Projection and Refraction in Fiction and Non-Fiction; Conclusion; References; Index

With Radical Realism, Autofictional Narratives and the Reinvention of the Novel, Fiona Doloughan offers an insightful study that combines literary, historical, and cultural contexts in its analysis of the discussed works … It will be of interest to scholars interested in unconventional narrative forms and their literary as well as extratextual impact. KULT_online