Fictocriticism

"Fictocriticism" is a postmodern, experimental often feminist style of writing.

The traditional divisions among the practices of fiction, theory and criticism into stories, essays and critiques tend to be merged with fictocriticism which combines elements of these writing practices into a single text. These texts thus often tell a story while making an argument. They range from avant-gardist prose poems to more discursive metafictional inventions.

Once Jacques Derrida asked for a name:

"We must invent a name for those "critical" inventions which belong to literature while deforming its limits."

The name one could have given him was fictocriticism, but he went on anyway to write, and perform, critically, and sometimes fictionally, for instance by telling stories while making his philosophical arguments.

Fictocriticism might trace its origins to Montaigne, continuing through Barthes and making a different appearance in the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe or Joan Didion. Tending towards the laid-back narrative, the inclusion of the local and singular; the embrace of contemporary culture and media, the name, and the style, have been adopted enthusiastically in Australia and Canada.

See also

* Linguistics
* Literary theory

References

* cite book
first = Heather
last = Kerr
authorlink =
coauthors = Nettlebeck, Amanda
year = 1998
month =
title = The Space Between - Australian Women Writing Fictocriticism
chapter =
chapterurl =
editor =
others =
edition =
pages =
publisher =
location =
id = ISBN 1-876268-11-5
url =
* cite book
first = Stephen
last = Muecke
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1997
month =
title = No Road (bitumen all the way)
chapter =
chapterurl =
editor =
others =
edition =
pages =
publisher = Fremantle Arts Centre Press
location = Fremantle
id = ISBN 1-86368-181-7
url =
* cite book
first = Stephen
last = Muecke
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2002
month = October - December
title = parallax
chapter = The Fall: Fictocritical Writing
chapterurl =
editor =
others =
edition = 25
pages = 108-112
publisher =
location =
id =
url =
* Somerville, Margaret (1999) Body/Landscape Journals, [http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/non-fict/blj.htm Spinifex Press] .
* Bartlett, Alison (Summer 2006) 'Dear Regina: formative conversations about feminist writing' " [http://www.femtap.com/id14.html FemT
] "1.

External links

* [http://wrt.ucr.edu/wordpress/2005/09/30/wrt-and-fictocriticism/ WRT and Fictocriticism]
* [http://www.gu.edu.au/school/art/text/april99/prosser.htm Processing Fictocriticism]
* [http://www.utas.edu.au/handbook_archive/UTASHANDBOOKS/UNITS/UNITSH/HEA435.html Fictocriticism - unit description]