Real-Time Autobiography: Autofiction and Autofiction

‘Autofiction’ has been named as ‘the future of the novel’ again, based on the work of authors such as Ben Lerner, Karl Ove Knausgård and Sheila Heti. The mid-20th century term takes on a new meaning by operating explicitly in the context of a digitalised environment. It bears the notion of self-referentiality but also one of automation – while at the same time echoing the surrealist concept of automatic writing. As such, an understanding of autofiction as ‘real-time autobiography’ can tie the concept of ‘uncreative writing’ and remix culture to digital writing as self-expression, as seen in the context of blogging and social media.