Autofiction as relational mediation: A Ghost in the Throat and To Write as if Already Dead

Abstract Because of its exploration of the self and the resemblance to online styles of publishing, autofiction has been accused by certain scholars of reflecting neoliberal tendencies. Hans Demeyer and Sven Vitse have developed a more nuanced view on the relation between autofiction and neoliberalism. Autofiction can be a place where authors try to negotiate the paradox of wanting to produce creative work in times when our cognitive and affective capacities are relentlessly commodified. In this article, two recent books, A Ghost in the Throat (2020) by Doireann Ní Ghríofa and To Write as if Already Dead (2021) by Kate Zambreno, will be discussed as strategies to cope with the pressure of living in a neoliberal context and to develop a more relational form of writing. In both works, the authors attempt to attune to the voices and lives of other writers: Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, Hervé Guibert, and others. Exploring affinities between the lives of these writers and their own, both de‐individualize their struggles and connect with a wider community of people who shared similar struggles. Furthermore, Zambreno explicitly problematizes the conventions of autofiction, as well as the compromises she is forced to make with the demands of publishers.