ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Swift's use of multiple first-person narration in the context of Curated Fiction and Bakhtin's concepts of Polyphony, and explicating the apparently nebulous presence of the author. Some comparison with Waterland is offered, as the two texts offer different case studies of the core elements of Curated Fiction, namely authorial absence and orality. This chapter also discusses the propensity of Curated Fiction to create specific moral textures for characters and the situations they narrate, which in turn allows for a reader to navigate issues of trust, truth and subjectivity. Specific case studies are offered in this chapter since Swift makes of variations in tone and structure that qualify is digressions from his broader narrative project, for purposes of alleviation by humour or other shifts in style. Last Orders allows for a comprehensive analysis of the apparent contradiction between the absent and the all-too-present author—an author who ostensibly allows his characters to speak for themselves, while imbuing the work with apparent moments of authorial intervention—such as truncating one chapter mid-sentence.
