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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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Over to you: Writing in the second person

21/2/2014

10 Comments

 
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Choosing a second person narrator is a risky decision. Done badly, it makes for an irritating read and, even done well, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Although I think it’s handled beautifully in Ewan Morrison’s recent novel Close Your Eyes, a ‘you’ narrator is generally confined to the short story where a degree of experimentation is often more welcome.

There are around twenty second-person short stories and pieces of flash fiction in the anthology You, Me & A Bit of We. Seeing them together, if not quite reading them back-to-back, it’s striking how many different interpretations of ‘you’ there can be. Even though English has lost the distinction between the singular/familiar and plural/polite forms of the second person to be found in many other European languages, we still manage some diversity in its application, at least in fiction. Hovering between the more familiar first and third person narration, and borrowing bits from both, the second person pulls the reader closer to the story, pushing the identification with the narrator and/or creating the illusion of being addressed directly from the page. Either way, the fictional events portrayed can seem more real.

In Close Your Eyes, the second person functions as an alternative first person, perfectly conveying the precarious selfhood of a young mother who has never been able to develop the ego strength to identify herself as ‘I’. The ‘you’ in Annemaria Cooper’s At the Edge Mattress in You, Me & A Bit of We has a similar fragility, all sense of agency beaten out of her by the man with whom she shares a bed. In Home Strange Home by Diandra Linnemann, the second person is employed to express the narrator’s sense of disorientation to good effect. In Charlotte Hayden’s Alvy (published by Words with Jam), I love the way the ‘you’ tries not to register just how vulnerable she is. I opted for second person narration for the adolescent’s bolshy yet underripe personality in What Time It Sunset?, a teenage girl, distanced from herself as well as others in her anger at the unfairness of the world. ‘You’ seems to compensate for the distancing we might otherwise experience with vulnerable narrators who need to protect their privacy, as in Lily by Hettie Ashwin.

‘You’ can also serve as an Everyman/woman narrator, challenging the reader to consider how we would react in their shoes. In That Loving Feeling, Sharon Birch brings an original perspective to the familiar scenario of a woman considering leaving her husband. In Meriah Crawford’s unsettling Gonnagetya, the moral dilemma is not one we can stand back and observe: we, as readers, become cringingly part of the problem and possible solution. The generic ‘you’ can also deliver more general truths about causes and consequences, as in Marathon to Perfection by Margaret Gracie.

In some other types of story, the second person coexists with another narrator, with the ‘you’ adopting some elements of ‘s/he’. Some may disagree, but for me The Bedroom Mirror by Anne Fox falls into that category, with an implied omniscient narrator – perhaps the mirror itself – looking kindly on Emil as he prepares for his new life. This Other is more active in Martin Gamble’s Your Final Engagement, an undefined presence who knows all about ‘you’.

Finally, there are the stories where a first-person narrator is addressing a yet-to-be-identified third person who is nevertheless addressed as ‘you’. The gradual revelation of each character’s identity (including the initially ambiguous gender) and the nature of the bond between them is part of this type of story’s appeal. In Laura Dunkeyson’s You Weren’t Heavy, we share the narrator’s empathy and concern for the fragile ‘you’ she carries over the ice and up the steps. In my story, Had to Be You, published by Zouch magazine, the ‘you’ is more menacing and the tie to the narrator feels unwelcome but hard to escape. In another of my stories, In Praise of Female Parts, appearing on Red Fez I’m assuming that the reader’s life situation will be closer to the hypothetical ‘you’ than the narrator, but I don’t think that leads to any loss of empathy. In Your Famous Pink Raincoat by Susan F Giles the ‘you’ form is highly effective in exploring the arc of a relationship from first meeting to break up – very poignant.

I hope this quick romp through what is apparently a complex area of literary theory, is enough to prompt you to share your own views on reading and writing in the second person. And I hope you’ll let me know what you think of some of the stories I’ve linked to here. 

I'm aiming to post again next Wednesday, either on how we organise our literary bookshelves being good enough. Hope you'll call back then.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Norah Colvin link
24/2/2014 02:19:31 am

Hi Anne,
You have certainly delved into the second person quite thoroughly. I hadn't given this a great deal of thought before. I shall come back soon and have a read of some of these stories - starting with yours!

Reply
Annecdotist
24/2/2014 04:35:20 am

Thanks, Norah, it's certainly an interesting way of looking at things and will be interested in your views on the stories when you've got time. A lot of these stories are in the anthology for which there is a charge, but the links to their openings give you a good idea of how they have approached the theme. For the others, including mine, you can read the full story online.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
26/2/2014 07:49:56 pm

I've just read "Had to Be You" and loved it - compelled me to the end to find out who the you was - had a few ideas along the way but you kept the secret until the end. I think the second person was perfect for telling this story, and I like the way you didn't give away too many details but left it up to the reader's imagination.

Reply
Annecdotist
27/2/2014 03:32:45 am

Thanks, Norah. Glad you liked the story and it's such a pleasure having someone so perceptive as a reader

Reply
Kate link
27/2/2014 12:32:51 am

Thanks for this, found it on Twitter and think I will purchase it. Writing in the 'second person' has always fascinated me, I find it easier to do in poetry.

Reply
Annecdotist
27/2/2014 03:36:33 am

Welcome, Kate. So glad you found my blog and look forward to more connections. and chuffed that my post has you thinking of buying the book. Have to confess I'm rather scared of poetry, as a reader and writer, but can envision the 'you' point of view working well there.

Reply
Safia link
11/3/2014 10:46:37 pm

I had never given 2nd person a 2nd thought (sorry) until I read 'You, on a Good Day' by Alethea Black which was featured in 'One Story' last year. I found it really made me think about every word because she was addressing 'me'. Using 'you' felt like a terrific way to instantly connect with the reader in a 'hey you, I'm talking to you' way. The menacing aspect of 2nd person which you mention above is certainly obvious in 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid. IMO, I think it would be too much to maintain throughout a novel and thankfully, it's interspersed with 1st person in Hamid's much-acclaimed novel. Thanks, Anne - I really enjoyed reading this and will try to pop back to read the links some time.

Reply
Annecdotist
12/3/2014 05:10:11 am

Thanks for this, Safia. I'd forgotten about The Reluctant Fundamentalist (although I think I mentioned it on one of your posts some time back) but I didn't really like the voice – thought it was too pushy, although that might have been the point – but I didn't think I was anything like the character being addressed

Reply
Safia link
12/3/2014 10:08:40 pm

That's a good point, Anne. No, I didn't 'see' myself in Hamid's 'you' either but could picture the American man he was addressing. Perhaps this just happened by accident, but that actually made the novel powerful for me - ie, I could see the Westerner as 'other' for once, just as the Pakistani character's 1st person brought me, as a reader, closer to him. No, that must have been intentional on Hamid's part - quite a brilliant ruse IMO then and probably what led to this novel making a big impression at the time of publication. As it happens, I just read yesterday that Mohsin Hamid is one of the guests at next year's Emirates Airlines Literary Festival (@emirateslitfest) in Dubai. I'm hoping to attend workshops etc in 2015 as it was impossible this year what with me having to play chauffeur to my hubby who pulled a ligament in his knee - what timing!

Reply
Annecdotist
13/3/2014 10:23:14 am

Interesting – a similar process in our reading but with opposite impacts on our enjoyment! Also, I think it's not difficult for the Westerner to be portrayed as Other in fiction, even when written from a Westerner's point of view. For example, in The Poisonwood Bible it's quite clear that the missionary family are out of their depth. Now, do I hear a blog post brewing – mine or yours? And have you booked your ticket for the festival yet?




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