Fictionnalité et référentialité

Abstract

This article investigates a theoretical problem linked to generic speculations about autobiography, autofiction, biography and biofiction, in the broader context of recent debates concerning the logical and ontological distinction between fact and fiction. It aims to demonstrate that the different typologies which seek to classify contemporary life tales according to their degree of fictionality or referentiality adopt for the most part a methodological position described by Gerard Genette as “conditionnalist,” for it considers that fictionality results from an act of judgment, as opposed to the “essentialist” posture which postulates the existence of internal markers of fictionality.More specifically, my article seeks to evaluate the impact that the conditionnalist posture may have produced on the theory of genres, arguing that the latter is now polarized between two tendencies. Whereas the prescriptive/normative attitude incites critics to multiply generic labels in an effort to systematize author-reader contracts, which are always unique, the descriptive/typological attitude tends, on the contrary, to dissolve generic borders in favor of a thematic analysis of contemporary literature.

Keywords

• fictionality
• referentiality
• genre theory
• postclassical narratology
• autobiography
• biofiction