New Sincerity and Autofiction: a Self-Therapeutic Reaction to the Ironies of Postmodernism

Bartol, Jan (author), Krevel, Mojca (mentor)

The 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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: autofiction, New Sincerity, metamodernism, critique of postmodernism
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2025
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-173087
• COBISS.SI-ID: 253404675
• Publication date in RUL: 13.09.2025

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: New Sincerity in avtofikcija: samoterapevtska reakcija na ironije postmodernizma

Abstract

Magistrska naloga sledi razvoju angleške književnosti od konca 19. stoletja prek modernizma in postmodernizma, njen namen pa je pojasniti sodobne trende v angleški književnosti. Naloga zagovarja tezo, da so ti trendi nastali kot odziv na negativne vidike postmodernistične kulture, kot ju opisujeta David Foster Wallace (kritika prevzema postmodernistične ironije s strani mainstream medijev) in Fredric Jameson ('brezglobinskost', upad afekta in izguba zgodovinskosti). Kot odziv na to predstavljamo dva podobna, a različna pogleda na sodobno književnost. To sta »nova iskrenost«, kot jo opiše Adam Kelly (ki se osredotoča na obnovljeno iskreno komunikacijo med avtorjem in bralcem), ter metamodernizem, kot ga opišejo van der Akker, Vermeulen in Gibbons (kot »struktura občutenja«, ki teži k ponovnemu vračanju globine, afekta in zgodovine). Na koncu se obrnem k avtofikciji, podzvrsti romana. Po mojem mnenju ta kar najbolje povzema in predstavlja najnovejši razvoj v literaturi, saj uporablja postmodernistične prijeme za dosego »post-postmodernističnih« ciljev. V drugem delu naloge analiziram tri različna dela avtofikcije, da predstavljeno teorijo ponazorim v praksi.

• Keywords: avtofikcija, Nova iskrenost, metamodernizem, kritika postmodernizma