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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: 2nd person narrative (was Re: What could IF be??)
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Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 04:59:41 GMT
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David Baggett (dmb@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu) wrote:
> It's _If on a winter's night a traveler_.  It's not a very good book, in my
> opinion, but still worth reading just to see how the experiment played out.

> >Why does 2nd person work *for me* in IF but not conventional literature?
>
> I think it can work in static fiction as well; I just don't think Calvino's
> the one to do it. [...]
>
> I don't think 2nd person has to seem so artificial.  I've experimented with
> it in static fiction and written a number of short stories where 2nd person
> was the voice that made the most sense.  In these cases, the final product
> was quite natural. But if you set out to write a novel in 2nd person just
> for the sake of experimentation, chances are it's going to seem like
> gimmickry.

There was an excellent story in a recent issue of Asimov's Science 
Fiction, which was in second person. Let me see if I can find it...

> Z

I cannot. I'm thinking it was July '96, because that's the recent issue I 
can't find.

Oh well. It was a good example anyway.

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
