Making Unstrange: Theory and Second-Person Fiction

Russian Formalism’s suggestion that artistic literature makes the familiar strange finds echoes in today’s theories of “unnatural narrative.” “Naturalization” seemingly texts understands uncanny literary effects as based on qualities “natural” spoken language. Sifting through structuralist, pre-structuralist, and psychoanalytic musings second-person fiction or similar interpersonal relations, all largely neglected studies narrative were popularized among theorists critics over past thirty years, this article theorizes readers’ ‘realization’ ‘virtualization’ address, narratorial apostrophe, protagonists. One reason we have no agreed-upon, comprehensive chart explaining address’s variable various readers (with an appreciative nod to Sandrine Sorlin), is not such impossible — but simply any would be complex. Such projects might nuanced by earlier thoughts focused more general psychology, phenomonology, human exchanges. This requires reflection fuctions, formulations, narrative, also thinking about its affects.