Published 2025-12-19
Keywords
- Autofiction,
- Contemporary French Literature,
- Non-fiction,
- Personal Identity,
- Subjectivity
Copyright (c) 2025 Giovanni Salvagnini Zanazzo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The essay studies a kind of autofictional writing “against” documents through the example of French author Chloé Delaume. It begins with a brief survey of the use of documents in contemporary self-writing, which can be framed as “writing with”. In Delaume’s case, in contrast, the autofictional writing consciously turns against the biographical data displayed on the identity card, which represents the imposition of the external reality on the perception of the self. A final part of the essay distinguishes this stance from that of authors (Duras, Valéry) who, while similar in themes, completely ignore the document, writing “beyond” it.