You are reading this blog post. You realize that the author
is simply imitating the style of Aura.
You start to become less and less interested. Your eyes drift from the
luminescent writing and you start to envision shenanigans of the upcoming
weekend. You sap out of your tempting daydreams and realize that you were just
reading something. Your eyes float back to the screen.
Sorry about that. I guess I got slightly carried away, but I
do think that the use of second person narration in Aura is the most interesting part of the novella. Immediately as
readers we are drawn into the story and forced to experience the events as if
we were there, as if we were Felipe. The heightened sense of attachment heightens
the suspense. Each nightmare, each cat cry, each inexplicable sight is our own.
Second person narration is dangerous, though. If a writer does not create a
world that is engrossing enough a reader will place their personality into the text
and lose sight of what they are reading. Fuentes does not fall into this trap.
His world is just unexplained enough to make it feel like reality. The beauty
of Fuentes’ writing is in how he balances revelation with confusion and the
second person narration is the perfect tool for his prose.
Classic Collin! I was thoroughly interested in the first paragraph until you told me not to. It worked perfectly. I agree that second person can be done poorly, though anyone who brings up the choose your own adventure books as an example will have to fight me because they are amazing.
ReplyDeleteAlso I was super confused for this book but I enjoyed every second of it, and by using second person and saying confusing things, I'm pretty sure Fuentes wanted us to be confused.