Sheila Heti's Alphabetical Diaries Explores Autofiction Through Data and Constraint
Sheila Heti's latest work, Alphabetical Diaries, compiles more than 500,000 words from a decade of journaling, arranged in alphabetical order. Renowned for her novels such as How Should a Person Be? (2010) and Motherhood (2018), Heti blends autofiction with self-quantification across 26 chapters. Her creative process incorporates various external systems, including randomized card decks and the I Ching, alongside AI dialogues, notably featured in a 2022 series for the Paris Review. In 2023, the New Yorker published her short story 'According to Alice'. The book investigates the distinctive effects of alphabetization and positions her diaries as a medium for self-creation. Priced at £10.99 by Fitzcarraldo Editions, it prompts discussions about the essence of autofiction, with critics pointing out its reliance on artifice, as seen in Karl Ove Knausgaard's invented memories.
Key facts
- Sheila Heti's Alphabetical Diaries sorts 10 years of diary entries (500,000 words) alphabetically into 26 chapters.
- The book is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in softcover for £10.99.
- Heti has used various external systems in her work: randomized card decks, the I Ching, and AI chatbots.
- In 2022, she published a five-part series of conversations with AI bots in the Paris Review.
- A resulting short story 'According to Alice' was published by the New Yorker in 2023.
- Heti's previous novels include How Should a Person Be? (2010) and Motherhood (2018).
- Critic Christian Lorentzen argues autofiction succeeds through construction, not confession.
- Karl Ove Knausgaard admitted to fabricating a childhood memory about his mother peeling potatoes on New Year's Eve.
Entities
Artists
- Sheila Heti
- Rachel Cusk
- Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Brian Eno
- Celine Nguyen
Institutions
- Fitzcarraldo Editions
- Paris Review
- New Yorker
- ArtReview
Locations
- Toronto
- Canada
- San Francisco
- United States