The addiction of talking to oneself, dialogues of the self

Abstract

Autofiction, a term coined by Serge Doubrovsky, refers to the literary practice in which the author mixes autobiographical elements with fiction, challenging the boundaries between reality and narrative. This literary technique offers a unique perspective to the reader by allowing the author to explore their own identity and experiences through a narrative that flows between the factual and the fictional. Although Goliarda Sapienza’s work is defined as autobiographical, both by the author herself and by critics, the characteristic traits of autofiction are evident in her novels. My aim with this work is to demonstrate some autofictional characteristics present in Goliarda Sapienza's L’Università di Rebibbia (1983), as well as to highlight how the author uses this literary resource to go beyond her narrative of imprisonment and shed a completely new light for her time on the perception of the incarcerated feminine.