Introduction: From Autofiction to the Autofictional

Abstract

The introduction takes as its starting point autofiction’s continuing resistance to a consensus definition and suggests that this has to do with the ad-hoc invention of the term but also with the fact that autofictional texts tend to challenge and transform generic conventions. The chapter proposes embracing the slipperiness of the concept by purposefully extending its scope to encompass a wide range of autofictional phenomena. These include the diverse affordances of the autofictional as an aesthetic strategy and a theoretical lens and the many shapes it can take as it interacts with different forms and media. The chapter discusses the heretofore geographically and linguistically limited focus of autofiction research and advocates a more global perspective, which promises to enrich our understanding of the autofictional.