Date of Award

6-15-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts

First Advisor

Selah Saterstrom

Second Advisor

Eric Gould

Third Advisor

Billy J. Stratton

Fourth Advisor

Jennifer Pap

Keywords

Genre, Autofiction, Horror, Contemporary fiction

Abstract

My dissertation investigates culturally significant overlaps between contemporary works of autofiction and horror. I contend that both respective categories exhibit a parodic relationship to their own genres, and I situate this argument within tentative designations that I call Digital Autofiction and Weird Horror. Parody here is re-contextualized in the contemporary moment to reflect a mode of genre engagement that decidedly moves away from postmodern associations of irony, pastiche, and fragmentation. Instead, I conceptualize and engage with a notion of parody that has evolved to fit what might be called a metamodern moment. This framing is explored through close readings of texts that I assert can be reliably placed in a “middle-of-genre” spectrum: works which neither fully embrace their genre conventions nor overtly advance their boundaries in formal evolution.

In pairing two ostensibly dissimilar genres together, I engage in an unconventional critical study that finds mutual identity amidst both genres’ shared contentions and popular receptions alike. In that way, one primary ambition for this project is to better understand how literary genres have been read, performed, and circulated in the last decade by juxtaposing thematic difference in order to reveal shared histories of influence. Another ambition is to introduce a proposed “Auto-Horror” sub-genre that has emerged in our current literary landscape, and which I believe is worth devoted critical attention as a form of “post-Covid” era literary experimentation.

In readings of contemporary novels by Patricia Lockwood, Mariana Enríquez, Brett Easton Ellis, David Demchuk, and others, my dissertation provides a new context in which to consider today’s fiction and the way it uniquely engages with still-lingering postmodern aesthetic sensibilities. Finally, this work contributes to a growing body of interdisciplinary scholarship devoted to recontextualizing genre as a whole—reframing its conventional interpretation as a categorizing system towards a conceptualizing that is more expansive and generative; one that operates beyond classificatory utility.

Copyright Date

6-2024

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. This work may only be accessed by members of the University of Denver community. The work is provided by permission of the author for individual research purposes only and may not be further copied or distributed. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Kevin Kohlhauf

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

152 pgs

File Size

832 KB

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