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Autofictionalizing Reflective Writing Pedagogies: Risks and Possibilities

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Autofiction in English

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Life Writing ((PSLW))

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Abstract

Personal reflective writing exercises are commonly engaged for pedagogical purposes across multiple interdisciplinary contexts. Ideally, writing enables students to challenge received assumptions, recognize complexities of difference and reimagine more socially inclusive ways of being. However, the process can backfire, serving to cohere norms that limit being. Seeking ways to strengthen writing’s potential benefits, and redress its risks, Walker, a teacher of creative writing, considers the possibilities autofiction might offer. This, however, entails recognizing that autofiction itself involves potential problems. Through examination of issues in and around works by Amélie Nothomb and Karl Ove Knausgaard, the chapter argues for a link between formal writing devices, particularly narrative structure, and the pedagogical potentials of personal writing towards goals of enhanced self-knowledge and ethicality.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dominique Hecq, Natalie Edwards and Christopher Hogarth, all of whom offered me useful feedback and advice, particularly regarding the English translations of French passages cited in this chapter. Any errors, however, remain of course entirely my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

    Amelia Walker

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  1. Amelia Walker
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  1. Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom

    Hywel Dix

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Walker, A. (2018). Autofictionalizing Reflective Writing Pedagogies: Risks and Possibilities. In: Dix, H. (eds) Autofiction in English. Palgrave Studies in Life Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89902-2_11

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