Abstract: As a representative writer of autofiction, Philippe Forest’s works demonstrate the features of “the fiction of ‘I’” as well as a profound study of the genre of autofiction. In this essay, Forest traces the history of "autofiction" as a critic, provides analysis on its state of flux, as well as noting that autofiction is the most prominent trend of writing after Nouveau roman in the French literary world. He also presents his personal understanding and practice of autofiction as a novelist.

Keywords:autofiction, fiction, watakushi shôsetsu, the return of “I”

Author: Philippe Forest (1962-) is a leading French scholar and writer. He is a guest contributor to Le Monde des Livres, Le Magazine littéraire and Art Press. Also, he is coeditor in chief of the well-known French literary journal La Nouvelle Revue française with Stéphane Audeguy. He was awarded the officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres and chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. His academic monographs include Philippe Sollers, Camu, and Oé Kenzaburô. His literary works include L'enfant éternel (winner of the First Novel Prix Femina in 1997), Le siècle des nuages (winner of the Grand Prix littéraire de l'Aéro-Club in 2011), Le Chat de Schrödinger, Aragon (winner of the Prix Goncourt of biography in 2016).