noun
I-novel; autobiographical novel
A genre of Japanese literature in which the author writes about their own personal life and experiences, often in a confessional style. The term is closely associated with the Japanese literary tradition of the 'I-novel' (私小説).
彼の最新作は、自身の離婚体験を描いた身辺小説だ。
His latest work is an I-novel depicting his own divorce experience.
身辺小説は、日本の近代文学において重要な位置を占めている。
The I-novel occupies an important place in modern Japanese literature.
Compound of 身辺 (personal surroundings) and 小説 (novel). The term emerged in Japanese literary criticism to describe a subgenre of autobiographical fiction.