Autism Fiction: A Mirror of an Internet Decade?

Abstract

In the past decade there has been an extraordinary explosion of literature – both fiction and non-fiction – in which autism plays a key role. This paper surveys the very diverse genre that has resulted and examines some of its effects on the evolution of our understanding of autism and on our ability to talk about autistic experience. It also notes the role of the Internet in enabling autistic people to interact with others while avoiding the difficulties of face-to-face interaction. It proposes that the public fascination with autistic texts mirrors the dominance of the Internet in daily life. Both such texts and the Internet itself represent radical changes in the horizon of communication.