New Sincerity and Autofiction: a Self-Therapeutic Reaction to the Ironies of PostmodernismBartol, Jan (Avtor) Krevel, Mojca (Mentor) autofictionNew Sinceritymetamodernismcritique of postmodernismThe present master’s thesis traces the development of English literature from the end of the 19th century through modernism and postmodernism in order to explain the current trends in contemporary literature. The thesis argues that these trends have arisen as a reaction to the negative aspects of postmodernist culture as described by David Foster Wallace (criticizing the adoption of postmodernist irony by mainstream media) and Fredric Jameson (the facets of depthlessness, waning of affect, and loss of historicity). As a response to these, I present two similar yet differing accounts of contemporary literature. These are The New Sincerity as described by Adam Kelly (focusing on a renewed sincere communication between author and reader) and metamodernism as described by van der Akker, Vermeulen, and Gibbons (as a “structure of feeling” that works towards a return of depth, affect, and history). Ultimately, I turn to autofiction, a subgenre of the novel that seems to best encapsulate and represent the recent developments in literature through its utilization of postmodernist devices that are used to achieve ‘post-postmodern’ goals. In the second part of the thesis, I analyze three separate works of autofiction in order to illustrate the theory in practice.20252025-09-13 07:15:44Magistrsko delo/naloga173087VisID: 591371COBISS_ID: 253404675sl