Second-Person Narration in Literary and Conversational Storytelling

Abstract

This article explores areas of intersection between sociolinguistic narrative analysis and literary narratology. Specifi cally, I focus on a phenomenon that has recently received some attention in narratology but hardly any in the study of narratives told in face-toface interaction: namely, second-person narration. Manfred Jahn (2005) defi nes second-person narration as a “story in which the protagonist is referred to by the pronoun you. Second-person stories can be homodiegetic (protagonist and narrator being identical) or heterodiegetic (protagonist and narrator being different)” (522). This initial defi nition, though a useful starting point, requires further elaboration and specifi cation—especially when it comes to literary you-narratives. In particular, studies have shown that in literary contexts the referential scope of you can be much wider than Jahn’s defi nition indicates and may include real readers as well as larger audiences (Herman 1994; Phelan 1994). Indeed, my own research suggests that