New book by Élise Hugueny-Léger

Many congratulations to Élise Hugueny-Léger from the Department of French on the publication of her monograph on French autofiction, Projections de soi: Identités et images en mouvement dans l'autofiction.

This book considers autofiction as an intermedial artistic practice. It examines an often-overlooked aspect of autofiction as it has emerged in France, namely its development through moving images – television, video, and film. The polysemic notion of ‘projection’ sheds light on various dialogues between literature and the moving image in processes of self-representation: the construction of authorial figures through media strategies; the use of cinematic language and processes of montage; film adaptations of autofictional works; subtle movements between television screens and literature.

However, while autofiction is often associated with unashamed self-display, this book argues that moving images allow for processes of disappearance, loss, estrangement, and the quest for origins to be expressed. Through in-depth case studies, Elise Hugueny-Léger argues that the dialogue between the written word and moving images enables writers and filmmakers to depict fractures and doubts which constitute the autofictional ‘I’.

The corpus encompasses a wide range of key writers of autobiography and autofiction, including Marguerite Duras, Camille Laurens, Georges Perec, Sophie Calle, Emmanuel Carrère, Christine Angot, Annie Ernaux, Amélie Nothomb, and Delphine de Vigan, shedding light on some of their lesser-known works in an accessible way.