Abstract
In one of the more poignant scenes of Richard Ford’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Independence Day, narrator/protagonist Frank Bascombe laments, “only there’s no one. No one here or anywhere to say this to. And I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry” (217). This passage raises an important question that has been lingering throughout the entire narrative: if no one is present during Bascombe’s narration, as he himself recognizes and regrets, then to whom is he speaking?1 This becomes an even stickier question considering that the entire novel is offered in simultaneous present tense narration, Bascombe narrating the events while they are occurring. Independence Day is not alone: a significant challenge of reading simultaneous present tense narration is in locating the narratee. It is this narratological difficulty that gives rise to the concerns of this essay. My goal is four-fold: (1) quickly clarify the differences among retrospective narration, historical present tense narration, and simultaneous present tense narration; (2) discuss a narratological phenomenon particular to simultaneous present tense narration, what I will term the absentee narratee; (3) discuss a hitherto relatively unexamined narrative tense form, what I will term four-wall present tense; and (4) provide a glimpse into the
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