Biofictional Histories

Biofiction, literature that names its protagonist after a historical figure, has become a dominant literary form in the last forty years. Although writers such as J.M. Coetzee, Joyce Carol Oates, Hilary Mantel, Colm Tَibيn, and Russell Banks have authored award-winning biographical novels, there remains confusion about the nature of biofiction. This collection defines the nature of the aesthetic form, clarifies why it has come into being, specifies what it is uniquely capable of signifying, shows how it pictures the historical and critiques the political, and suggests potential directions for future studies. This book was first published as a special issue of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.