I have a question: is it possible to write a poem, or any work of literature, without using a narrator? That is, without using the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person! Think about the idea for a little bit before your make any final conclusions. Just think about it as a puzzle: how would you write a text without using a narrator?
This topic came up in my medieval seminar last week when we were reading Piers Plowman (praise and honor be upon him). It seemed as if the text itself was actually speaking, and that this speech was directed towards the reader as though it were a lecture or a sermon. To posse a possible answer to my own question (using Piers Plowman as my example): one way to achieve the absence of a clear/definitive narrator in a text is to have an incredible multiplicity of voices speaking in the text so that no single character dominates. In effect, the text becomes polyphonic to the point that any sense of narration disappears as the text trails off like a diatribe while carrying you (reader) along, helpless. But this is only one possible solution to the question.
Just some food for thought. Enjoy!
MUSIC: This weeks album is HUNKY DORY by David Bowie. Listen to it! Trust me! In my opinion it’s one of his best albums.
