I would have to say that one of the most interesting aspects of Sontag’s novel is her persistent use of the third person personal. Very rarely does she employ a third person pronoun and so we achieve a level with her main character (Diddy) that is close to being analogous to the relationship he holds to himself. That is, one of detachment. The present is always second guessed in her repetition of the “(now)” which, though seemingly tired after the first quarter, continues its significance throughout, with its culmination coinciding with Diddy himself in the end.
I will say that her ‘surreal’ surrenders of her character begin to lose focus towards the end. But, they are also what bring the ‘plot’ together. The denouement in and of itself becomes as mundane as the revelation we have of Diddy himself. In this sense one can consider Sontag’s style in this novel as equally lackluster as inevitable. The end is virtually prefigured in the beginning, and one is only duped by succumbing to the standard conception of plot narrative. Her ability to ply that without being overt thus places her in an uncomfortable position between the modernist and postmodernist text. The modern is used, with only minor hints toward the contrary, all the way towards the end in which the reader, not just the character, is thwarted. Most distaste towards this novel I image will come from just that.
All I can say is that what captivated me the most is her being able to create a first person narrative through a third person narration. It was downright hypnotizing, dare be it, mesmerizing. One can hardly help but relate more to Diddy (however one may actually differ from him) than most intimate first person narratives such as the Kafka which she is compared to. The first person alienates as much as it communes with the reader; as opposed to her communal use of the one step removed for both reader and character alike but separate. Granted, very few characters can exist in the way that Sontag’s Diddy does, but she uncovers in an extended way another intimacy between reader and narrator. That of the readers detachment from the character, and the character’s equal detachment from him/herself. Which at time speaks an honesty hitherto unexplored at such a level.
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