The definition of autofiction is a literary style or genre that deliberately blends autobiographical facts within a fictionalized narrative. Authors utilize this style to convey true events from their own lives through an opaque fictionalized lens. While stylistic literary devices are employed within autofictional novels or stories, these are used to broaden the emotional or thematic resonance of such narratives.

A simple definition most critics would agree on is that autofiction is some combination of an author’s real-life characteristics, relationships and experiences, plus some aspects that have been imagined or invented.

It should also be noted that historically, a hyphen appeared in the name “auto-fiction.” The hyphenated version may have been used when the term was translated for an English audience. This appears to have disappeared through the evolution of language and grammar. However, some literary establishments still choose to write the term with the added hyphen, as an article from 2015 by Lily Tuck for LitHub indicates.

Aspects of Autofiction and Similar Terms: Autotheory and More

As with most literary devices, autofiction can take on different styles and definitions to suit the particular biographical details. These variations include a consideration of how the author chooses to lean into areas of theory or memoir. Another stylistic device employed by some autofictional writers such as literary modernist Jean Rhys or Mary Borden, for example, is the use of fragmentary narratives to express real-life traumatic experiences shrouded in fictionalized storytelling.

Other specific titles are sometimes added to the term, autofiction, though these are less well-recognized. These related genres include “Autotheory,” which blends autobiography with cultural criticism. “Autobiografiction,” an old term referencing spiritual experiences to produce metaphorical stories. “Fictional biographies,” such as Tracey Chevalier’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” a fictionalized account of Johannes Vermeer’s painting. Finally, “Roman en jeu,” also known as “Novel in the I,” a French term sometimes used for authors writing intimate first-person memoir but playing with the malleable nature of memory.

Blurred Lines: Intentional Autofiction vs Fiction

Though a book may be labelled “autofiction” as opposed to “fiction,” this distinction does not automatically insist the author is complacent in such a label. For some authors, such as Elizabeth Ellen, who openly embraces the term “autofiction” for her work, the genre allows for a raw sharing of truths while writing in a recognizably fictional mode.

Other authors, such as Sheila Heti and Chris Kraus, have indicated their dismay at the term “autofiction” as attached to their books. When questioned, Kraus expressed her awareness of the French provenance of the term. However, she does not consider herself to write in this genre. Kraus has firmly stated that the term is reductionist. Her perspective is that first-person narratives by male authors are considered “realism” whereas women’s writing is often marginalized by the term, “autofiction.”

We can observe the usefulness of utilizing such a literary genre as “autofiction” when considering work surrounding vulnerable or traumatic life histories. In Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar,” for example, largely recognized as a work of fiction, we nonetheless see the close similarities of the protagonist with that of its author.

Plath, publishing under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas, clearly wished to distance herself from the negative character portraits within the book. These were primarily as a protective stance for her mother’s sake, who appears as the overbearing and controlling mother of the narrator, Esther Greenwood, a cipher for Plath and her own mother’s relationship. Whether Plath herself would have termed her work autofiction is debatable.

Editorial Note: Read our full review of “The Bell Jar” here.

Other more recent examples of writers eschewing the term include Nobel Laureate Annie Ernaux, whose life deeply informs her writing. She instead insists on the term “life-writing” for her work, as she insists her narratives contain no fiction. Rachel Cusk, another author closely associated with the term, “autofiction,” has distanced herself from it, claiming that she sees her work as an existential search for truth.

Why ‘Autofiction’ Causes Debate, Confusion and Ambiguity

Some of the confusion over the term, autofiction, more generally arises from the ambiguity of the term. Autobiography is much more recognized as straight storytelling from a factual point of view. Autofiction, however, allows for the author to keep some distance from their writing while using their own life experiences as copy. The result for the reader can also be more fulfilling because autofiction allows for a piece of work to read as a fictional novel or story, rather than a memoir.

The term, autofiction, can be useful to signal to readers a text that blurs the line between autobiography, fiction and memoir. Utilizing the literary device and linguistic term, “portmanteau” — where two or more words are blended together to create a new word — it can be helpful in understanding more about the term, autofiction, to split the ‘auto’ from the ‘fiction.’

Ploughshares suggests that:

“If we emphasize the autos, the narrator’s “I” is synonymous with the author: the events that happen to that “I” may be fabricated, but they are fabricated in order to demonstrate something about how the narrator thinks and responds to events.”

While Ploushares suggests that fiction indicates:

“That the narrator or character who shared demographic similarities with the author is ultimately, and importantly, not the author.”

The Feminist Connotation of Autofiction

Frequently, the term, “autofiction,” is applied to the writing of women. It is commonly an assumption made toward feminized writing. Autofiction is often read, sometimes incorrectly, as memoir. This miscategorization is likely due to the emotional depth of much of women’s literary output, and the need for obscuring the reality of women’s powerlessness and frustration at patriarchal systems.

We can see such examples of women’s fictionalized autobiographical narratives in both female writers of the past and present. Anӓis Nin, French-born American diarist who also wrote fiction, claimed that her fiction mirrored her own life. Similarly, the French writer Collette wrote fictions closely resembling her own life experiences. Gertrude Stein, with “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” in 1933, meanwhile wrote a fictionalized autobiography of herself, from the perspective of her partner.

Autofiction written by men, in contrast, is often read more seriously, regardless of the autobiographical similarities. Examples of this include Knausgaard’s work, whom Siri Hustvedt argues “writes like a woman” in that he discusses “emotions, domestic labour, and more in his sprawling autobiographical work.” Although his autofiction is read as fiction, it is taken more seriously than women writing in the same genre.

Quoted in The Guardian, the author Chris Kraus, who disputes, the title, “autofiction,” as applied to her writing, observes the way in which the autofiction label is not applied to writing by men:

“There are so many examples in the history of literature of a male first-person that’s used pretty closely to the identity of the writer, and we don’t call it that. The corny beat example, Jack Kerouac, we don’t call that autofiction. Herman Melville, do we call that autofiction? All of American realism that’s written in the first person – we don’t call that autofiction.”

As Rebecca Van Laer noted in Ploughshares, Knausgaard’s work, despite appearing to have an emotional register, is nonetheless read like fiction and appreciated as original work. Van Laer argued that using the term, “autofiction,” in respect to women’s writing, encourages the minimization of their work, misreading it as nonfiction rather than fiction.

The History of Autofiction

“Autofiction” as a literary term was first used by French novelist Serge Doubrovsky in 1977 to describe his own novel, “Fils.” Doubrovsky intimated that he considered the term, “autobiography,” a “privilege reserved for the important people of this world.” By labeling his own writing as “autofiction,” he emphasized it as a book that should be read as fiction, rather than for instructional purposes. He coined the term, autofiction, because his own book was a work of “fiction, of events and facts strictly real.” He indicates here the nature of autofiction, in which fictional characters often share names and characteristics with their creators. Autofiction then, according to Doubrovsky’s definition, is about creating a fictionalized self out of real-life experiences, fantasies and fictions of the author.

Doubrovsky and other French novelists such as Marguerite Duras tended toward fictional novels that contained characters sharing names and characteristics with their authors. These works were completed alongside the growing body of French literary theory, such as deconstruction, which posited the self as a fiction.

Over the past decade or so, the term, “autofiction,” has grown in momentum and in particular to signify the contemporary writing of authors such as Sheila Heti, Rachel Cusk, and Karl Ove Knausgaard. Since the late 2000s in particular, there has been something of a new wave of inventive novelists utilizing the autofiction genre.

Possible explanations for the recent popularity of autofictional narratives among both writers and readers is the rise of social media, celebrity culture and reality television. As more creators appear on screen, purporting to share their authentic selves, confessional writing has lent itself to the autofiction market. In this kind of media landscape, it is easy to see how readers may be seeking novels and reading material that contains relatable autobiographical truths, particularly when they relate to minority or specific groups, such as women, writers of color, and LGBTQ+ narratives. Within the autofictional structure, readers may find solace in the connection with their own selfhood.

Contemporary Autofiction Books and Authors

These authors and their titles have defined the genre as we know it today. Let’s explore why these books stand out.

‘Childhood, Youth, Dependency’ by Tove Ditlevsen

Published between 1967-71, but seeing a resurgence of popularity in recent years, “Childhood, Youth, Dependency” is part of a three-book trilogy by prolific Danish poet, Tove Ditlevsen. Published separately under the three titles in Danish, they are now known collectively as “The Copenhagen Trilogy.”

Ditlevsen began writing and publishing “Childhood, Youth, Dependency” prior to Doubrovski’s coining of the term autofiction, but her work has come to symbolize this genre over recent years. The Trilogy explores the author’s difficult working-class childhood, her career, relationships and addiction. They have received overdue praise for their vivid, unflinching portrayals of a troubled life and are widely recognised as pioneering examples of the autofiction genre.

‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit’ by Jeanette Winterson

Published in 1985, Winterson brings elements of her own youth and writes the story of a young lesbian woman coming-of-age against a deeply religious backdrop. This allows some emotional distance that would not have been afforded if Winterson had chosen to write this as a memoir. “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit” was a groundbreaking novel when it was published, remaining an important and darkly comic example of the autofiction genre.

‘A Death in the Family’ by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Originally published in Norwegian, Knausgaard’s series, “My Struggle” tells the story of his life, including his private thoughts, personal history and relationships. It is considered autofiction, however, because he sprinkles fictional narratives among the facts where some forgotten details of his past remain. “A Death in the Family,’ the first installment of six, discusses childhood, adolescence, and the death of Knausgaard’s father, as well as becoming a father himself. Knausgaard’s series shares similarities with Ditlevsen’s earlier trilogy.

‘How Should a Person Be?’ by Sheila Heti

Heti’s 2010 novel, “How Should a Person Be?,” sees a woman navigating life in her 20s and has led to the author being hailed as a leading proponent of autofiction. “How Should a Person Be?” follows namesake narrator Sheila as she abandons her life to surround herself with a bohemian new social circle. Heti utilized transcripts and emails from her real-life to write the book, adding in creative flourishes and producing a unique work.

“How Should a Person Be?” has been hailed by many readers, particularly those in their twenties and thirties, as a modern classic. However, it did receive less favourable reviews from critics, who found Heti’s ‘unstructured, highly confessional style leans into self-indulgence and pretentiousness.’ Her later novel, “Motherhood,” has further sealed Heti’s place as an autofictional writer.

‘Outline’ by Rachel Cusk

Following a backlash from her earlier memoirs, which she claimed almost stopped her writing, Rachel Cusk turned her writing attention toward the genre of autofiction. In her highly celebrated 2014 work of autofiction, “Outline,” which forms part of a trilogy followed by “Transit” and “Kudos,” she shares deep truths attained through personal experience, but through a fictional narrator.

Consumer reviews, however, of Cusk’s “Outline” trilogy are mixed. Readers often find it unsettling. Some have struggled with the lack of a narrative arc, and confusion over which character is speaking. “Outline,” which appears to be a meditation on the doomed nature of relationships, is seen as a novel with no relatable narrator for which readers can identify.

Common Criticisms of Autofiction as a Genre

Autofiction is not without its critics. Other than the authors themselves (such as Ernaux and Kraus) who distance themselves from the term “autofiction,” these are the other main criticisms the genre engenders:

Lack of Imagination

Autofiction often relies too heavily on personal diaries and therefore does not require the author to use their imagination in creating a fictional story. This approach can be viewed by some as lazy and lacking in imagination.

Narcissistic or ‘Navel-Gazing Narratives

Due to the inherently introspective nature of autofiction, the genre can often be seen as a form self indulgence of navel-gazing. This tone can become tiresome for readers, as the author continually seeks insight into their own life.

Ethical Dilemmas

As autofiction often contains details of the lives of others as they intersect with the author, this potential privacy violation can lead to ethical difficulties. Unlike in a fact-checked autobiography, the author can fall back on the plea that the book is a work of “fiction” rather than facts.

Lack of Diversity

Some critics have noted that the majority of autofictional narratives are predominantly written by white, educated, middle-class writers. This homogeneity has led to accusations of privilege, whereby some authors may rely on established publishing networks.

Autofiction is Cowardly

Accusations have been made that autofiction narratives can water-down experiences that may have wider-reaching, more relatable impact when written in traditional autobiography or memoir.

The Future of Autofiction

Standing alongside autobiography, memoir and fiction, autofiction can be seen as a powerful genre for exploring taboo themes. The nature of autofiction allows the writer to create distance between their own real-life experiences, which are often those of trauma and discovery, and view them through the distancing lens of fiction. Within the oversharing nature of the twenty-first century, it is likely that we will see more authors exploring this hybrid form of writing.