Second Person Narration

[vaznetti]

Or, further Haven issues. I raised this problem in a feedback letter; the author opened up the question on the Haven, but as I tend not to go there (except for the specific purpose of watching slapfights) I thought I might as well discuss it here. I know that some people who read this will have already posted there--sorry. Feel free to repost here, or not. The Haven thread is here. I'm not sure that I'm the supposed "inexperienced reader" of the responses, but it's true that I've never written in second person. It does seem to me that in my rather limited view of the world I've seen more second-person narration in fanfic recently (over, say, the last six months). It feels a bit like a fad to me.

The following two paragraphs are an edited version of my feedback letter:

I have to admit that I don't care for second-person narration. I find it intrusive, I think: that is, I happen to know for a fact that I am not the character, and I do not feel the things that the character feels, and so I have no idea why I am being expected to read as if I were the character. And so I become disconcerted. I usually manage by mentally replacing the second person pronouns with third person pronouns in my head, and read it as a tightly focalized third-person. Oddly enough, it ends up distancing me from the piece, probably because of the mental gymnastics I need to put myself through.

I find it easier to read in certain cases, for example if there's a strongly implied "I" narrator to match the "you" of the story. I can see why it might be used in other cases, as well, for instance where the identity of the second-person narrator is kept secret. The authors who use second-person narration tend to be fairly talented, and I'm certainly capable of sitting back and trusting them. I'm just not sure why a second-person is superior to a tightly-focalized third person narration, and can't help feeling that it's a piece of overt manipulation by an author.

I'd welcome responses by authors who use the second person and readers who like it as well as anyone else out there who finds it difficult. Or, you know, whoever wants to comment.

Comments

[vaznetti]

I use second person as an almost-omnipotent narrator, who watches the main character, judges him or her, and usually finds him wanting.

That's interesting. I'm going to have to go back and read your stories and see what I think of it. My real problem is with the use of the second-person for a specific, canon character; I don't mind an "anonymous you" because I don't have the sense of disjunction between me and the character.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

The best (erm, only) example is "Just Like My Daddy" (http://elizabeth.gatefiction.com/daddy.html), which was my first serious attempt at second person. It's a difficult way to write -- the English language has no grammatically acceptable second person plural.