ABSTRACT
Some writers and critics have argued that apostrophe, or alternatively the practice of addressing a homodiegetic or heterodiegetic narratee, constitutes second person. Many researchers have agreed that second person is an arresting and compelling form of address. That McInerney is self-consciously playing with the form is amply demonstrated by this and other quotes from that text. Kocan's approach is less obviously knowing, but in his hands the mode allows the reader not only to walk inside Tarbutt's skin, but to walk next to him at the same time, or hover above him, or move rapidly between such divergent points. The claustrophobic and unsettling nature of second person intensifies the feeling of being locked up, of mental instability, and of the restricted agency that comes with being in a potentially dangerous place and closely observed. Kocan has pushed the limits of memoir and has produced a unique and compelling work in the process.
