"Bright Lights, Big City" was the first book I ever read narrated entirely in 2nd person. You read the book, you think the idea is interesting but after awhile you get annoyed and wish the author would stop trying to put you in the narrator's shoes. You know? Tom In a message dated 7/29/03 3:08:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, herb@eskimo.com writes:
That book IS fun. There are some other uses of the 2nd person, most that I know of are from the late 20th century, though there could well be earlier works too.
Every third chapter of Carlos Fuentes' Death of Artemio Cruz is in the 2nd person. Several other books by Latin American authors from the 1960s-80s may also be written at least in part in the 2nd person. Several novels by Gilbert Sorrentino use the 2nd person as well.
______________________________________________________ Discs I'm listening to at work: John Zorn -- Filmworks XIV Eleni Madell -- Country for True Lovers Richard Thompson -- Ducknapped!
On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 15:23:11 EDT Samerivertwice@aol.com wrote:
"Bright Lights, Big City" was the first book I ever read narrated entirely in 2nd person. You read the book, you think the idea is interesting but after awhile you get annoyed and wish the author would stop trying to put you in the narrator's shoes. You know?
Michel Butor wrote LA MODIFICATION in 1958 and this is the style he used (known in French as "vocatif" for the plural "you"). Is anybody aware of something earlier than that? Patrice.
on 7/29/03 12:31 PM, Patrice L. Roussel at proussel@ichips.intel.com wrote:
Michel Butor wrote LA MODIFICATION in 1958 and this is the style he used (known in French as "vocatif" for the plural "you").
Is anybody aware of something earlier than that?
Parts of PILOTING COMES NATURAL, by Captain Fred Way in the 1930's use the technique. sh
On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 15:23:11 EDT Samerivertwice@aol.com wrote:
"Bright Lights, Big City" was the first book I ever read narrated entirely in 2nd person. You read the book, you think the idea is interesting but after awhile you get annoyed and wish the author would stop trying to put you in the narrator's shoes. You know?
Michel Butor wrote LA MODIFICATION in 1958 and this is the style he used (known in French as "vocatif" for the plural "you").
Is anybody aware of something earlier than that?
Patrice.
For what it's worth, the Calvino book is definitely second person SINGULAR, directly addressing an individual reader of the book, rather than the plural "you" as you describe the Butor (I've only seen excerpts of the Butor a long time ago, so I don't remember it at all). For me, reading Bright Lights Big City was like being trapped in a bar listening to a really annoying twit tell me way more than I wanted to know about his life. Interesting as a strategy for a writer to use, but ultimately not a personI wanted to having talking to me at such length. -- Herb Levy P O Box 9369 Fort Worth, TX 76147 herb@eskimo.com
on 7/29/03 12:23 PM, Samerivertwice@aol.com at Samerivertwice@aol.com wrote:
"Bright Lights, Big City" was the first book I ever read narrated entirely in 2nd person. You read the book, you think the idea is interesting but after awhile you get annoyed and wish the author would stop trying to put you in the narrator's shoes. You know?
I always got the sense that it was that character talking to himself in his own mind, ie second-person omniscient. I loved that book. sh
participants (4)
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Herb Levy -
Patrice L. Roussel -
Samerivertwice＠aol.com -
skip Heller