Loneliness as Affective Structure in Contemporary Autofiction

This thesis uses a range of contemporary works of autofiction to show that authors are increasingly turning to the form in order to write about loneliness. It argues that this reflects a recent affective shift, borrowing ideas from history of emotions discourse and applying them to a specific section of contemporary literature. It shows, in particular, that authors represent loneliness not only thematically in their works but also stylistically and formally, and argues that autofiction offers a medium for both representing and resisting this. Moreover, it argues that much of an author’s ability to do so is dependent upon a reader’s willingness to read their works ‘reparatively’, taking it as a given that their readers subscribe to ‘post-theory’ ideas about the novel as a form. More specifically, it looks at four authors, and four different versions of loneliness. In the first chapter, it shows how David Foster Wallace’s later works tried to move away from metafiction and towards autofiction, arguing that this allowed him to address a sense of existential loneliness. In the second chapter, it considers how Ben Lerner writes about, and against, feelings of loneliness which are triggered by meditating on one’s place in a global, neoliberal world. In the third chapter, it examines Rachel Cusk’s engagement with experiences of domestic loneliness, particularly those of wives and mothers. Finally, in the fourth chapter, it analyses Tao Lin’s work and the impact of digital mediation on loneliness, and ends by addressing some of the ethical questions his work forces us to consider. The thesis concludes by considering the efficacy of writing autofiction as a way to represent and assuage loneliness, and reflects on what the overall project suggests about how autofiction might be adopted as a mode in the twenty-first century.