Comments on: Third Person Plural

By: Jebin

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By: harry

harry — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:14:01 +0000

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By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:29:48 +0000

Not that it really affcts the FID/multiple narrator analysis, but the use of the term “map,” as in “eliminate his map” and “eliminate his own map,” is fairly common among characters and the narrator/s (at least those under-35) around both Ennet House and ETA (and if memory serves, it also pops up in other places). I am not sure when it is supposed to have come into usage in this way, but the etymology becomes fairly clear: recent (in the novel) North American geo-politics.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:08:26 +0000

I wrote about this on my site as well (http://thatsoundscool.blogspot.com/2009/07/infinite-jestation-blogthrough-pages_20.html), but I think a great example of the FID comes when Tavis’s whiny voice interrupts Orin’s backstory. Glad that I can find all of your sites through InfSum!

By: Julian

Julian — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:15:10 +0000

Right, I understand how the style works, but there are sections where I think the third person voice is clearly not that of any of the characters in the scene.

By: Chris Forster

Chris Forster — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:28:21 +0000

I just wrote about the same thing on my own blog just a couple days ago, in response to reading the long Eschaton chapter.

I think mpharris pegged it; many of the third person chapters are pretty classic “free indirect discourse” (or written in “free indirect style” as it is also called). The difference worth noting between FID is that the narrative itself takes on the vocabulary (and other attributes) that we would normally associate with a character. I think the most useful examples come when a character (and I find this is especially the case with Gately) uses an ethnic slur or other such term. Even though no quotation marks are involved (the novel doesn’t say, Gately thought “…”) it is clear that the vocabulary is coming from Gately.

Remember though that the book begins (and returns to) the first person.

By: infinitetasks

infinitetasks — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:00:03 +0000

Yes, Sorrento, the Eschaton section as a whole does strongly imply a “third person subjective” or “free indirect discourse” (mpharris, you rock!) from the p.o.v. of Hal. But that need not the entire novel determine. There’s Gately, Joelle, yrstruly, Orin, etc., and they do have different (though sometime soverlapping) styles of narration, I think. And then, of course, there’s lots of play, such as lists, putative c.v.’s, etc. I am, nonetheless, of a mind that Hal can be seen as narrator for much of the novel thus far.

By: mpharris

mpharris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:21:09 +0000

The English term was “Free Indirect Discourse,” thank god the education I’m getting is useful for something.

By: Sorrento

Sorrento — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:27:01 +0000

I think Hal is the floating narrator. It seems as if the bulk of the novel (set before Year of Glad) is an answer to the p17 question “So yo then man what’s your story?”. Hal’s predilection for grammatical tics and extensive vocabulary kind of flows in and out of each section.

Perhaps the greatest hint, or treasure chest moment, for this explanation comes during this week’s reading (especially footnote 123).