I was always taught that writing in second person was for children’s adventure novels or trivial things. This of course, excludes letters and things that are actually only addressed to one other person.
I found Duras’ use of the second person both intimate and distance. At first, I questioned whether she was trying to draw her audience in by making it seem insistently personal. She said “you will forget this is you,” which I thought was very true because, regardless of whether or not the reader is supposed to feel like it is s/he, by the end of the second page, we’ve already begun imagining a character and setting the scene with her.
Once I made that transition, I felt sort of distanced from the work because, I knew it wasn’t about me. However, not distanced in a way in which I lost interest. Instead I felt as if I was reading something I shouldn’t be; something that wasn’t intended for my eyes. This, I felt, made the essay all the more interesting. Although I didn’t belong there, I was curious to find out who did.
That being said, I think this choice has the capability of distancing the reader to the point which they lose interest in the work. The execution is definitely key and the subject matter is important. It would be ambitious to try, but innovative to say the least. When do you ever read published works in second person?
