“The World, More or Less” by Jean Rouaud: between novel and autofiction

Abstract

This article discusses theoretical approaches to autofiction - a new form of self-writing which spread in French literature from the 80s. The analysis of the autofictional device implemented in the novel “The World, More or Less” by Jean Rouaud produces evidence of the fact that the interlocking of fictionality and reality can express a subjective truth, the complexity and the unescapable dimension of the subject as I and translate an experience of life better than a factual narrative. J. Rouaud defines autofiction through an intertextual dialogue with J.-J. Rousseau’s “Confessions”, a text implicitly included within the novel’s text.

Keywords

• autobiography
• novel
• autofiction
• fiction
• real
• intertextual dialogue