Published in Brolly: Journal of Social Sciences 6 (2), this double blind peer reviewed research paper examines author-characters in autofiction, arguing that their liminal insertion disrupts traditional perceptions of authorial authenticity. Through analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse -Five, and Ben Lerner’s 10:04, I establish how author-characters function as multi-layered representations which embody and fictionalise the author. Using Barthes’s interrogation of narrative voice and Derrida’s theory of trace, I contend that author-characters expose the futility of accurate self-representation in literature. By intentionally blurring autobiography and fiction, author-characters challenge genre boundaries while foregrounding the instability of identity.
ISSN: 2516 8703
Numero810 