It seemed to me that the first person was used in FREIGHT
when Marshall was imagining what was happening rather than in
circumstances that were really happening. The scene between
Marjorie and her father and Marjorie and Lance, for example,
did not occur independent of Marshall's imagination. I was a
little confused about the murder at the lake of the man
Marshall supposed to be Wise. Marshall has to be one of the
stupidest protagonists I've ever read about. The research he
did was always dangerous for him and always led him to the
wrong conclusion, while reading newspapers or making a few
phone calls would have put his mind at ease. As suspenseful
as the book is, it's equally funny in the way REEFER MADNESS
is funny: one unfortunate circumstance leads to worse and
worse and worse, while one logical step taken at any point
along the way would have completely eliminated the
problem.
Patrick King
---
harry.lerner@mail.mcgill.ca wrote:
> As I read "Fright" I am noticing that
Woolrich
> shifts between 1st and
> 3rd person narration. More precisely, he
primarily
> wrote this novel
> from the 3rd person, although sometimes it seems
as
> though the
> protagonist (Prescott Marshall) is talking
about
> himself in the third
> person. Occasionally, however, Woolrich shifts
into
> first person
> narration, usually when Marshall feels most
paranoid
> or afraid and
> least in control of his circumstances. My
> impression is that this
> shifting serves to heighten the tension of
those
> scenes where Marshall
> is at his most vulnerable, i.e. to make them all
the
> more personal for
> both Marshall and the reader.
>
> Since "Fright" is my first foray into the works
of
> Woolrich, and in
> light of the many comments made recently on
this
> list regarding
> Woolrich's penchant for experimentation, is
this
> shifting of narrative
> style a common technique in Woolrich's work? Is
it
> a fairly common
> technique in noir in general? Is it always used
for
> the same reason
> (to achieve the same effect) or are there
different
> reasons for
> employing this technique? I find its use, at
least
> by Woolrich,
> fascinating and ultimately very
effective.
>
> Thanks!
> Harry
>
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