This book demonstrates new perspectives on a troubled literary concept that is inextricably tied to the larger question of why literature, and narrative fiction in particular, matters. Reflecting on the complex legacy of ideas of authorship in modern literary theory, this book makes a strong case for retaining this controversial concept in literary criticism and for reformulating it in more positive terms without losing sight of its complexity, situatedness, and diverse manifestations. It does so by putting recent theories of authorship in conversation with the critical ideas and creative practices of two innovative, self-reflexive, and theoretically informed writers—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) and W. G. Sebald (1944–2001). Reconceptualizing authorship along three interrelated dimensions (authorial creativity, authorial communication, and authorship as self-presentation), the book explores how the two writers’ ideas and practices contribute to ongoing debates about the notion of authorship, and how theoretical discussions of authorship in turn illuminate some of the most fascinating and challenging aspects of their creative practices.

Dr. Mengchen Lang received her BA degree in English from Tsinghua University (2015) and her M.Sc. degree in Literature and Modernity from the University of Edinburgh (2016). She completed her Ph.D. in English at the University of York in 2022 and has since worked in the School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, first as a postdoctoral researcher and now as an assistant professor. Working in the fields of narratives studies and modern/contemporary English literature, her research interests include ideas of authorship, fictionality and hybrid (non)fiction, narrative communication, narrative and selfhood, and narrative ethics. Her research projects have been funded by the China Scholarship Council, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and the Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science. Her articles have been published in JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory, Style, Frontiers of Narrative Studies, and the Chinese journal Contemporary Foreign Literature.