Second-person narrative
Encyclopedia
The second-person narrative is a narrative mode in which the protagonist
or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronoun
s and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun "you
".
Example:
Traditionally, the employment of the second-person form in literary fiction has not been as prevalent as the corresponding first-person
and third-person forms, yet second-person narration is, in many languages, a very common technique of several popular and non- or quasi-fictional written genres such as guide book
s, self-help books, do-it-yourself manuals, interactive fiction
, role-playing game
s, gamebook
s such as the Choose Your Own Adventure
series, musical lyrics
, advertisements
and also blogs.
Although not the most common narrative technique in literary fiction, second-person narration has constituted a favoured form of various literary works within, notably, the modern
and post-modern tradition. In addition to a significant number of consistent (or nearly consistent) second-person novels and short-stories by, for example, Michel Butor
, Marguerite Duras
, Carlos Fuentes
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
, the technique of narrative second-person address has been widely employed in shorter or longer intermittent chapters or passages of narratives by William Faulkner
, Günter Grass
, Italo Calvino
, Nuruddin Farah
, Jan Kjærstad
and many others (cf. the list of second-person narratives below).
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronoun
Personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
s and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun "you
You
You is the second-personpersonal pronoun, both singular and plural, and both nominative and objective case, in Modern English. The oblique/objective form you functioned originally as both accusative and dative)...
".
Example:
You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. —Opening lines of Jay McInerneyJay McInerneyJohn Barrett McInerney Jr. is an American writer. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City; Ransom; Story of My Life; Brightness Falls; and The Last of the Savages...
's Bright Lights, Big CityBright Lights, Big City (novel)Bright Lights, Big City is an American novel by Jay McInerney, published by Vintage Books on August 12, 1984.- Plot :It is written about a character's time spent caught up in, and notably escaping from, the mid-1980s New York City fast lane. It is one of the few well-known English-language novels...
(1984)
Traditionally, the employment of the second-person form in literary fiction has not been as prevalent as the corresponding first-person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
and third-person forms, yet second-person narration is, in many languages, a very common technique of several popular and non- or quasi-fictional written genres such as guide book
Guide book
A guide book is a book for tourists or travelers that provides details about a geographic location, tourist destination, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide...
s, self-help books, do-it-yourself manuals, interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
, role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s, gamebook
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s such as the Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
series, musical lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, advertisements
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and also blogs.
Although not the most common narrative technique in literary fiction, second-person narration has constituted a favoured form of various literary works within, notably, the modern
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and post-modern tradition. In addition to a significant number of consistent (or nearly consistent) second-person novels and short-stories by, for example, Michel Butor
Michel Butor
-Life and work:Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1947. He has taught in Egypt, Manchester, Salonika, the United States, and Geneva...
, Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
, Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, the technique of narrative second-person address has been widely employed in shorter or longer intermittent chapters or passages of narratives by William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, Günter Grass
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
, Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...
, Nuruddin Farah
Nuruddin Farah
Nuruddin Farah is a prominent Somali novelist.-Early years:Born in Baidoa, Somalia, Farah is the son of a merchant father and a poet mother. As a child, he attended school at Kallafo in the Ogaden, and studied English, Arabic, and Amharic. In 1963, three years after Somalia's independence, Farah...
, Jan Kjærstad
Jan Kjærstad
Jan Kjærstad is a Norwegian author. Kjærstad is a theology graduate from MF Norwegian School of Theology and the University of Oslo . He has written a string of novels, short stories and essays and was editor of the literary magazine Vinduet...
and many others (cf. the list of second-person narratives below).
List of notable second person narratives
Narratives written consistently in the second person or narratives including chapters or larger and/or intermittent passages in the second person:- John LydgateJohn LydgateJohn Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.Lydgate is at once a greater and a lesser poet than John Gower. He is a greater poet because of his greater range and force; he has a much more powerful machine at his command. The sheer bulk of Lydgate's poetic output is...
"The Legend of St. Gyle" from The Minor Poems of John Lydgate - Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
1855 Sebastopol in December, 1854 Part I of Sebastopol SketchesSebastopol SketchesSevastopol Sketches are three historical fiction short stories written by Leo Tolstoy and published in 1855 to record his experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol . The name originates from Sevastopol, a city in Crimea... - Giovanni VergaGiovanni VergaGiovanni Carmelo Verga was an Italian realist writer, best known for his depictions of life in Sicily, and especially for the short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" and the novel I Malavoglia .-Life and career:The first son of Giovanni Battista Catalano Verga and Caterina Di Mauro,...
1879 "Fantasticheria" from Vita dei campi - Lionel BrittonLionel BrittonLionel Erskine Nimmo Britton was a British working-class author.He was born at Astwood Bank, on the borders of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. His father was a solicitor in the village, although the practice collapsed the year after Lionel's birth...
1931 Hunger and Love - Lewis Grassic GibbonLewis Grassic GibbonLewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell , a Scottish writer.-Biography:...
1932 Sunset SongSunset SongSunset Song is a 1932 novel by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. It is widely regarded as one of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century... - Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
1935 "The Haunted Mind" in Twice-Told TalesTwice-Told TalesTwice-Told Tales is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first was published in the spring of 1837, and the second in 1842...
(1837) - William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
1936 Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom! is a Southern Gothic novel by the American author William Faulkner, first published in 1936. It is a story about three families of the American South, taking place before, during, and after the Civil War, with the focus of the story on the life of Thomas Sutpen.-Plot... - Mary McCarthyMary McCarthyMary McCarthy may refer to:*Mary McCarthy , novelist, critic, and memoirist*Mary McCarthy , former CIA employee accused of leaking information...
1942 "The Genial Host" from The Company She Keeps - Peter Bowman 1945 Beach Red
- Ilse AichingerIlse AichingerIlse Aichinger is an Austrian writer noted for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry.- Life :...
1954 "Spiegelgeschichte" from Meine Sprache und Ich: Erzählungen - Albert CamusAlbert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
1956 La Chute (tr. The Fall) - Michel ButorMichel Butor-Life and work:Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1947. He has taught in Egypt, Manchester, Salonika, the United States, and Geneva...
1957 La ModificationLa ModificationSecond Thoughts is a novel by Michel Butor. It is the author's most famous work.-Plot summary:The plot is quite straightforward: a middle-aged man takes the train in Paris to visit his lover, Cécile - whom he has not informed of his arrival - in Rome. They have met in secret once a month for the...
(tr. Second Thoughts) - Brian W. Aldiss 1958 "Poor Little Warrior!" from The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus
- John Ashmead 1961 The Mountain and the Feather
- Günter GrassGünter GrassGünter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
1961 Katz und Maus (tr. Cat and MouseCat and Mouse (Günter Grass book)Cat and Mouse, published in Germany in 1961 as Katz und Maus, is a novella by Günter Grass, the second book of the Danzig Trilogy, and the sequel to The Tin Drum. It is about Joachim Mahlke, an alienated only child without a father. The narrator Pilenz "alone could be termed his friend, if it were...
) - Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
1962 AuraAura (Fuentes)Aura is a novel by Carlos Fuentes, first published in 1962 in Mexico. The first English translation by Lysander Kemp, was published in 1965 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.-Plot:...
(tr. Aura) - Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
1962 La muerte de Artemio Cruz (tr. The death of Artemio Cruz) - Michel Zéraffa 1964 L’Histoire
- Brian Stanley Johnson 1964 Albert Angelo
- John McGahernJohn McGahernJohn McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...
1965 The DarkThe Dark (McGahern novel)The Dark is the second novel by Irish author, John McGahern. It was published in 1965.-Plot introduction:The novel is set in Ireland's rural north-west, and it focuses on an adolescent and his emerging sexuality, as seen through the lens of the strained and complex relationship he has with his... - Peter EverettPeter EverettPeter Everett is an Australian television host. He hosted the Australian adaptation of cook show Ready Steady Cook on Network Ten. He is known for appearing on Changing Rooms which aired on the Nine Network in 1998. He also took part in the reality figure skating series Skating on Thin Ice in...
1966 The Fetch - Georges PerecGeorges PerecGeorges Perec was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist. He is a member of the Oulipo group...
1967 Un homme qui dortUn homme qui dortThe Man Who Sleeps and his alienation as he wanders the streets of Paris. His inner musings are narrated in the form of an unwritten diary by Ludmila Mikael. The hero remains silent throughout the film. The film won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1974....
(tr. A Man AsleepA Man AsleepA Man Asleep is a 1967 novel by the French writer Georges Perec. It uses a second-person narrative, and follows a 25-year-old student, who one day decides to be indifferent about the world. A Man Asleep was adapted into a 1974 film, The Man Who Sleeps.-Publication:The novel was published in France...
) - Rumer GoddenRumer GoddenMargaret Rumer Godden OBE was an English author of over 60 fiction and nonfiction books written under the name of Rumer Godden. A few of her works were co-written by her sister, Jon Godden, who wrote several novels on her own...
1968 "You Need to Go Upstairs" from Gone: A Thread of Stories - Edna O'BrienEdna O'BrienEdna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
1970 A Pagan Place - Angela CarterAngela CarterAngela Carter was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works...
1974 "Elegy for a Freelance" from Fireworks. Nine Profane Pieces - Alice MunroAlice MunroAlice Ann Munro is a Canadian short-story writer, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction, and a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize...
1974 "Tell Me Yes or No" from Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You: Thirteen Stories - Max FrischMax FrischMax Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
1976 "Burleske" from Max Frisch: Gesammelte Werke in zeitlicher Folge, 1944-1949 - Christa WolfChrista WolfChrista Wolf was a German literary critic, novelist, and essayist. She is one of the best-known writers to have emerged from the former East Germany.-Biography:...
1976 Kindheitsmuster (tr. Patterns of Childhood) - Margaret Gibson 1978 "Leaving" from Love Stories by New Women
- Edmund WhiteEdmund WhiteEdmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...
1978 Nocturnes for the King of Naples - Norman SpinradNorman SpinradNorman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
1978 Riding the Torch - Julio CortázarJulio CortázarJulio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
1979 "Graffiti" from We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales - Oriana FallaciOriana FallaciOriana Fallaci was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career...
1979 A ManA ManA Man is a novel written by Oriana Fallaci chronicling her relationship with the attempted assassin of Greek dictator George Papadopoulos.-Plot summary:... - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
1979 CompanyCompany (short story)Company is a short novel by Samuel Beckett, written in English and published in 1979.Together with Ill Seen Ill Said and Worstward Ho, it was collected in the volume NohowOn in 1989. It is part of Becketts '"closed space" stories. The Novella´s taking place in close quarters. In the case of... - Italo CalvinoItalo CalvinoItalo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...
1979 Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatoreIf on a winter's night a travelerIf on a winter's night a traveler is a 1979 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. The narrative is about a reader trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveler. Every odd-numbered chapter is in the second person, and tells the reader what he is doing in preparation for...
(tr. If on a winter's night a travelerIf on a winter's night a travelerIf on a winter's night a traveler is a 1979 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. The narrative is about a reader trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveler. Every odd-numbered chapter is in the second person, and tells the reader what he is doing in preparation for...
) - Keith RobertsKeith RobertsKeith John Kingston Roberts , was an English science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" and "Escapism.Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym...
1980 Molly Zero - Frederick BarthelmeFrederick BarthelmeFredrick Barthelme is an American novelist and short story author, well known as one of the seminal writers of minimalist fiction...
1981 "Esquire 95" from Moon Deluxe: Stories - Marguerite DurasMarguerite DurasMarguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
1982 La Maladie de la mort (tr. Malady of Death) - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
1983 "Happy Endings" Murder in the Dark - Frederick BarthelmeFrederick BarthelmeFredrick Barthelme is an American novelist and short story author, well known as one of the seminal writers of minimalist fiction...
1983 "Moon Deluxe" from Moon Deluxe: Stories - Frederick BarthelmeFrederick BarthelmeFredrick Barthelme is an American novelist and short story author, well known as one of the seminal writers of minimalist fiction...
1983 "Safeway" from Moon Deluxe: Stories - George GarrettGeorge Garrett (poet)George Palmer Garrett. was an American poet and novelist. He was the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. His novels include The Finished Man, Double Vision, and the Elizabethan Trilogy, composed of Death of the Fox, The Succession, and Entered from the Sun...
1983 The Succession: A Novel of Elizabeth and James - Jay McInerneyJay McInerneyJohn Barrett McInerney Jr. is an American writer. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City; Ransom; Story of My Life; Brightness Falls; and The Last of the Savages...
1984 Bright Lights, Big CityBright Lights, Big City (novel)Bright Lights, Big City is an American novel by Jay McInerney, published by Vintage Books on August 12, 1984.- Plot :It is written about a character's time spent caught up in, and notably escaping from, the mid-1980s New York City fast lane. It is one of the few well-known English-language novels... - Lorrie MooreLorrie MooreLorrie Moore is an American fiction writer known mainly for her humorous and poignant short stories.-Biography:...
1985 Self-Help (six of the nine short stories are second-person narratives) - Nuruddin FarahNuruddin FarahNuruddin Farah is a prominent Somali novelist.-Early years:Born in Baidoa, Somalia, Farah is the son of a merchant father and a poet mother. As a child, he attended school at Kallafo in the Ogaden, and studied English, Arabic, and Amharic. In 1963, three years after Somalia's independence, Farah...
1986 Maps - Jamaica KincaidJamaica KincaidJamaica Kincaid is a Caribbean novelist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in the city of St. John's on the island of Antigua in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda...
1988 A Small Place - Gloria NaylorGloria NaylorGloria Naylor is an African American novelist and educator.-Early life:Born in New York, she was the first child to Roosevelt Naylor and Alberta McAlpin. As Naylor grew up, her father was a transit worker and her mother was a telephone operator. When Naylor was young, her mother encouraged her to...
1988 Mama Day - Virgil SuarezVirgil SuárezVirgil Suárez is a Cuban American poet and novelist. He is a professor of English at Florida State University. He is one of the leading writers in the Cuban American community, known for such novels as Latin Jazz and Going Under....
1989 Latin Jazz - Gao XingjianGao XingjianGao Xingjian is a Chinese-born novelist, playwright, critic, and painter. An émigré to France since 1987, Gao was granted French citizenship in 1997...
1990 Ling Shan (tr. Soul MountainSoul mountainSoul Mountain is a novel by the Chinese writer Gao Xingjian. It was first published in Chinese in Taipei in 1990. The novel is loosely based on the author's journey in rural China, which was inspired by a false diagnosis of lung cancer. The novel is a part autobiographical, part fictional account...
) - Tim O'BrienTim O'Brien (author)Tim O'Brien is an American novelist who often writes about his experiences in the Vietnam War and the impact the war had on the American servicemen who fought there...
1990 The Things They CarriedThe Things They CarriedThe Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin, 1990... - L.E. Modesitt, Jr. 1992 The Towers of the Sunset
- Terry McMillanTerry McMillanTerry McMillan is an American author. Her interest in books comes from working at a library when she was sixteen. She received her BA in journalism in 1986 at University of California, Berkeley. Her work is characterized by strong female protagonists.Her first book, Mama, was published in 1987...
1992 Waiting To ExhaleWaiting to ExhaleWaiting to Exhale is a 1995 romance film starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMillan. Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Beach, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison and Mykelti...
an introductory chapter for Bernadine - Mavis GallantMavis GallantMavis Leslie Gallant, , née Mavis Leslie Young is a Canadian writer.-Biography:An only child, Gallant was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her father died when she was young, and her mother remarried. Gallant received her education at seventeen different public, convent, and French-language boarding...
1993 "Mille Dias de Corta" - Jan KjærstadJan KjærstadJan Kjærstad is a Norwegian author. Kjærstad is a theology graduate from MF Norwegian School of Theology and the University of Oslo . He has written a string of novels, short stories and essays and was editor of the literary magazine Vinduet...
1993 Forføreren (tr. The Seducer) - Alasdair GrayAlasdair GrayAlasdair Gray is a Scottish writer and artist. His most acclaimed work is his first novel Lanark, published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years...
1993 Tall Tales and True - Iain BanksIain BanksIain Banks is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies...
1993 Complicity - Sunetra GuptaSunetra GuptaSunetra Gupta is a novelist and biologist. Gupta was born in Calcutta, and trained in biology, holding a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from the University of London. She is currently Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology in the Department of Zoology at the University of...
1993 The Glassblower's Breath - Stuart DybekStuart Dybek-Personal life:Dybek was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dybek graduated from St. Rita of Cascia High School in 1959...
1994 "We Didn't" from Prize Stories 1994. The O. Henry Awards - Robert O'ConnorRobert O'Connor (author)Robert O'Connor is an American novelist, hailed as one of the most promising young American novelists and the author of a novel, Buffalo Soldiers, the basis for the 2001 movie of the same name.-Biography:...
1994 Buffalo Soldiers - Tom RobbinsTom RobbinsThomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22, 1936 is an American author. His best-selling novels are serio-comic, often wildly poetic stories with a strong social and philosophical undercurrent, an irreverent bent, and scenes extrapolated from...
1994 Half Asleep in Frog PajamasHalf Asleep in Frog PajamasOne of Tom Robbins' less well-known novels, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas was published in 1994 by Bantam Books. Like Robbins' other books, the plot involves an eclectic mix of characters and complicated scenarios, and mixes the mundane with the mysterious, in the form of the Sirius mysteries and... - Edwidge Danticat 1995 Epilogue to Krik? Krak!
- Junot DiazJunot DíazJunot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
1997 "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)" from Drown - David Foster WallaceDavid Foster WallaceDavid Foster Wallace was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California...
1999 "Forever Overhead" in Brief Interviews with Hideous MenBrief Interviews with Hideous MenBrief Interviews with Hideous Men is a collection of 23 short stories by David Foster Wallace. Several of the stories are entitled "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" and are presented as transcripts of interviews with male subjects... - Stewart O'NanStewart O'Nan- Life and work :Born on February 4, 1961 to John Lee O'Nan and Mary Ann O'Nan, née Smith. He and his brother were raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
1999 A Prayer for the DyingA Prayer for the DyingA Prayer for the Dying is a 1987 thriller film about a former IRA member trying to escape his past. The film was directed by Mike Hodges, and stars Mickey Rourke, Liam Neeson, Bob Hoskins, and Alan Bates... - Simon ArmitageSimon ArmitageSimon Armitage CBE is a British poet, playwright, and novelist.-Life and career:Simon Armitage was born in Marsden, West Yorkshire. Armitage first studied at Colne Valley High School, Linthwaite, Huddersfield and went on to study geography at Portsmouth Polytechnic...
1999 All Points North - Richard PowersRichard PowersRichard Powers is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology.- Life and work :...
2000 Plowing the DarkPlowing the DarkPlowing the Dark is a novel by American writer Richard Powers. It follows two narrative threads; one of an American teacher turned Lebanese prisoner of war, the other the construction of a high-tech virtual reality simulator.-Plot:... - Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
2001 Instinto de Inez (tr. Instinct of Inez) - Ian RankinIan RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
"Glimmer" (Reprinted in the short story anthology Beggars Banquet, 2002) - Karin LowacheeKarin LowacheeKarin Lowachee is a Canadian author of speculative fiction.Lowachee is the author of four novels, Warchild , Burndive , Cagebird and The Gaslight Dogs . Warchild is noteworthy for its use of second-person point of view for the first several chapters of the novel. This book won the Warner Aspect...
2002 Warchild - Julie OrringerJulie OrringerJulie Orringer , is an American writer and lecturer born in Miami, Florida. Her first book, How to Breathe Underwater, was published in September 2003 by Knopf Publishing Group...
2003 "Note to Sixth Grade Self" in How to Breathe Underwater - Aniruddha BahalAniruddha BahalAniruddha Bahal is an Indian journalist, author, founder and editor of the online magazine Cobrapost.com. Born in Allahabad, Bahal worked as a journalist and editor for India Today and Outlook. In 1999, he along with Tarun Tejpal co-founded Tehelka, a news website...
2003 Bunker 13Bunker 13Bunker 13: A Novel is a 2003 novel about an Indian journalist working on a weekly news magazine, who is a double agent for the Indian and Pakistani military intelligence services. Drugs, sex and espionage are the central themes and is the first novel by Aniruddha Bahal... - John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
2003 How to love America and leave it at the same time in The Early Stories: 1953-1975 - Nikki GemmellNikki GemmellNikki Gemmell is an Australian author, best known for anonymously writing the best-selling erotic novel The Bride Stripped Bare....
2003 The Bride Stripped BareThe Bride Stripped BareThe Bride Stripped Bare is a 2003 novel written by the Australian writer Nikki Gemmell, originally published anonymously. The title is borrowed from the painting The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even by Marcel Duchamp... - Jeff VanderMeerJeff VanderMeerJeffrey Scott VanderMeer is an American writer, editor and publisher.He is best known for his contributions to the New Weird and his stories about the city of Ambergris, in books like City of Saints and Madmen.-Biography:...
2003 Veniss UndergroundVeniss UndergroundVeniss Underground is a 2003 science fiction novel by Jeff VanderMeer, following the adult lives of three different protagonists across a short period of time in the decadent, surreal city of Veniss, which is situated above a vast underground labyrinth of hovels and mines ruled over by the amoral... - Chuck PalahniukChuck PalahniukCharles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
2003 DiaryDiary (novel)Diary is a 2003 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The book is written like a diary, its writer/narrator/main character is Misty Wilmot, a once-promising young artist currently working as a waitress in a hotel, although it never actually states who the narrarator is, it's safe to assume that it is Misty. ... - Dennis LehaneDennis LehaneDennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy...
2004 "Until Gwen" in The Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,... - Chuck PalahniukChuck PalahniukCharles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
2005 "Foot Work" in Haunted - Tim WintonTim WintonTimothy John "Tim" Winton , is an Australian novelist and short story writer.-Life:Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, but moved at a young age to the regional city of Albany....
2005 "Long, Clear View" in The TurningThe Turning (stories)The Turning is a collection of short stories by acclaimed Australian author Tim Winton. It was published in April 2005 by Picador. Many of the 17 short stories included interweave in their respective narratives, creating an intriguing and twisting central plot-line that generally centers around... - Iain PearsIain PearsIain Pears is an English art historian, novelist and journalist. He was educated at Warwick School, Warwick, Wadham College and Wolfson College, Oxford. Before writing, he worked as a reporter for the BBC, Channel 4 and ZDF and correspondent for Reuters from 1982 to 1990 in Italy, France, UK and...
2005 The Portrait - Matthew Woodring Stover 2005 Star Wars: Revenge of the SithStar Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novel)Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is a novelization of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith written by Matthew Stover and published on April 2, 2005 by Del Rey Books....
(several vignettes between chapters) - A.L. Kennedy 2007 DayDay (2007 novel)Day is a novel by A. L. Kennedy. It won the novel category and the overall Costa Book of the Year Award in the 2007 Costa Book Awards. The novel is about a man who was a tailgunner in a Lancaster bomber aircraft during World War II. Later, he is an extra in a film about prisoners of war....
- Charles StrossCharles StrossCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
2007 Halting StateHalting StateHalting State is a novel by Charles Stross, published in the United States on October 2, 2007 and in the UK in January, 2008. Stross has said that it is "a thriller set in the software houses that write multiplayer games". The plot centres around a bank robbery in a virtual world. It features... - Jhumpa LahiriJhumpa LahiriJhumpa Lahiri is a Bengali American author. Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies , won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and her first novel, The Namesake , was adapted into the popular film of the same name. She was born Nilanjana Sudeshna, which she says are both...
2008 "Hema and Kaushik" a trio of short stories in Lahiri's latest book Unaccustomed EarthUnaccustomed EarthUnaccustomed Earth is the latest book from Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. After Interpreter of Maladies, the Pulitzer Prize winning book, this is her second collection of short stories. Just like her other books, Unaccustomed Earth is also a reflection of life with two separate... - Jennifer EganJennifer EganJennifer Egan is an American novelist and short story writer who lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Egan's novel A Visit From the Goon Squad won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction....
2010 Out of Body from A Visit from the Goon SquadA Visit From the Goon SquadA Visit From the Goon Squad is a work of fiction by American author Jennifer Egan. It won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction... - Patrick Senécal 2010 Contre Dieu
- William LychackWilliam LychackWilliam Lychack is the American author of the novel, The Wasp Eater, and a forthcoming collection of stories, The Architect of Flowers. His work has appeared in The Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories, Ascent, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Seattle Review, The Missouri Review,...
2011 "Stolpestad" and "Griswald" in The Architect of Flowers - Charles StrossCharles StrossCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
2011 Rule 34Rule 34 (novel)Rule 34 is a near-future science fiction novel by Charles Stross. It is a loose sequel to Halting State, and was released on July 5 and 7th , 2011. The title is a reference to the meme Rule 34 of the Internet, a meme which states that "If it exists, there is porn of it... - Mohsin HamidMohsin HamidMohsin Hamid is a Pakistani author best known for his novels Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist .- Biography :...
2007 "The Reluctant FundamentalistThe Reluctant FundamentalistThe Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Mohsin Hamid, published in 2007.The novel uses the technique of a frame story, which takes place during the course of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe, where a bearded Pakistani man called Changez tells a nervous American stranger about his love...
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List of criticism
- Helmut Bonheim (1983) "Narration in the Second Person" in Recherches anglaises et americaines, 16 (1): 69-80."
- John Capecci (1989) "Performing the Second-Person." in: Text and Performance Quarterly 1: 42-52.
- Matt DelConte (2003) "Why You Can’t Speak: Second-Person Narration, Voice, and a New Model for Understanding Narrative." in: Style 37: 204-19.
- Monika FludernikMonika FludernikMonika Fludernik , a native Austrian, is professor of English literature and culture at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany....
(1994) Ed. "Second-Person Narrative." Special issue. in: Style 28.3. - Monika FludernikMonika FludernikMonika Fludernik , a native Austrian, is professor of English literature and culture at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany....
(1994) "Second-Person Narrative: A Bibliography." in: Style 28.4: 525-48. - Rita Gnutzmann (1983) "La novela hispanoamericana en segunda persona" ["The Hispano-American Novel in the Second Person"]. in: Iberoromania ns 17: 100-20.
- M. F. Hopkins, and L. Perkins (1981) "Second-Person Point of View" in d. F. N. Magill (ed.) Critical Survey of Short Fiction. 119-32.
- Irene Kacandes (1993) "Are You In the Text?: The 'Literary Performative' In Postmodernist Fiction." in: Text and Performance Quarterly 13: 139-53.
- Uri Margolin (1994) "Narrative 'You' Revisited." in: Language and Style 23.4: 1-21.
- Klaus Meyer-Minnemann (1984) "Narracion homodiegetica y 'segunda persona'" in: Acta Literaria 9: 5-27.
- Bruce Morrissette (1965) "Narrative 'You' in Contemporary Literature." in: Comparative Literature Studies 2 (1965): 1-24.
- Phelan, James (1994) "Self-Help for Narratee and Narrative Audience: How 'I' * and 'You' * Read 'How'." in: Style 28: 350-65.
- Brian Richardson (1994) "I etcetera: On the Poetics and Ideology of Multipersoned Narratives." in: Style 28: 312-28.
- Brian Richardson (2006) Unnatural Voices: Extreme Narration in Modern and Postmodern Contemporary Fiction.
- Peter Standish (1991) "La segunda persona y el narratario en los cuentos de Cortázar" ["The Second Person and the Narratee in the Stories of Cortázar"]. in: Modern Language Notes 106: 432-40.
- Jill Walker (2000) "Do you think you're part of this? Digital texts and the second person address" in Markku Eskelinen and Raine Koskimaa (eds.) 'Cybertext Yearbook', Jyväskylä University, pp 8-22. http://jilltxt.net/txt/do_you_think.pdf
- Ursula Wiest-Kellner (1999) Messages from the Threshold. Die You-Erzählform als Ausdruck liminaler Wesen und Welten.