Second-person narration as a joint action

• Published in: Language and literature (Harlow, England) Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 159 - 175
• Main Author: Rembowska-Płuciennik, Magdalena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2018; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Collaboration; Narratives; Person; Storytelling; Second-person narration; multiagency; joint action; enactment
• ISSN: 0963-9470; 1461-7293
• DOI: 10.1177/0963947018788519

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.