Society & Culture / Literary Studies & Writing / Literary Theory & Criticism

Why Do We Crave Scandal? The Dark Truth Behind Autofiction and Media Manipulation

Autofiction(s) et scandale

Claudia Jacobi, Christine Ott, Lena Schönwälder

You demand raw, unfiltered truth from public figures. You scroll through leaked photos, devour tell-all memoirs, and feast on messy divorces. But when a writer actually delivers that brutal honesty—by blurring the line between fact and fiction—you call them a liar. This is the ultimate hypocrisy of modern media consumers. In this deep dive, we dissect the explosive academic anthology *Autofiction(s) et scandale* (edited by Claudia Jacobi, Christine Ott, and Lena Schönwälder), which reveals how autofiction—a genre born in 1977 when Serge Doubrovsky called his true story a 'novel'—has become a weapon for artists to expose the lies of our hyperreal world. From Walter Siti's sacrilegious use of sex and steroids to seek transcendence, to Michel Houellebecq's staged murder of his own media persona, to Annie Ernaux's haunting photos of empty clothes that confront death itself, we explore why society needs scapegoats to feel moral. We also uncover how algorithms can prove a political memoir is just a calculated soap opera, and why, in an age of total surveillance, faking your own identity might be the last act of rebellion. You'll never look at a viral scandal—or your own carefully curated online persona—the same way again.