Globalization of the Fictional: The Self as Spectacle and the Reconfiguration of Rituals

Abstract

The aim of this text is to reflect on fictionality in the 21st century based on the relationship between the global interpenetration of markets and the cultural-symbolic dimension of human life. The argument to be developed has the following structure: Firstly, we will present the topology of the present developed by Byung-Chul Han, in which he presents a diagnosis of the current situation as a state of progressive atomization of social relations. From this framework, we will consider autofictional writing as a symptom related to the diagnosis established by Han. Then, based on the opposition established by the South Korean author between a form of symbolic perception and a form of serial perception, we will try to open up the possibility of formulating, from a theoretical angle, the problem of the fictional in the present. Finally, we will present a hypothesis that locates and positions fiction in the face of the challenges posed by a mundialized culture.