Autosociobiography: A Travelling Form

Abstract

In Germanophone and Francophone literary spaces, a genre by the name of autosociobiography has recently been the subject of increased attention, with texts by Annie Ernaux, Didier Eribon, Christian Baron, Richard Hoggart and others frequently being mentioned in this regard. While individual cases, such as the French reception of Richard Hoggart, have been studied before, this essay takes a broader approach and examines English-, French- and German-language texts in order to trace the complex itinerary of autosociobiography and sketch out the history of this emerging form in the second half of the twentieth century. In addition, we explore how the emergence of autosociobiography relates to international and supranational developments such as the expansion of higher education, economic recession and the rise of Neoliberalism after the Trente Glorieuses. Autosociobiography – so runs our thesis – is an attempt to reinstall a logic of the general in a ‘society of singularities’. Finally, our essay discusses the methodological problems that will be encountered in the study of autosociobiography as a travelling genre.