Second-person narration as a joint action

Abstract

This article represents an attempt to free narratological typologies from the constraints of first- and third-person dualities. It argues that a new collaborative and multiagent model of second-person narratives is needed, and draws on the concept of enactment to help explain the specificity of second-person narration. The growing popularity of second-person narration in contemporary print literature is linked to the rapid development of multimedial storytelling strategies and new technological environments. The new status of second-person narration in print literature is connected with the increasing cultural need for participation in interactive and socially shared experiences or activities (real or virtual). Understanding second-person narration as such a joint action can thus help to understand its growing popularity, not only in terms of the stylistic alternative it affords to both first- and third-person narration, but also in conjunction with the rising cultural value of social cooperation or co-acting in the media-saturated reality. My hypothesis is that second-person narrative stimulates a specific mode of reader involvement, rooted in participation rather than immersion.