Event Host: Department of English
In her 2012 Twitter fiction Black Box, Jennifer Egan sets up a complicated relationship between second-person and first-person pronouns. Her “you” is the narratee-protagonist, a woman character who lives in the future world performing a secret mission. Her “we” is a small group, or even the voice of the institutional authority that employs and trains “you” and other women to sacrifice their lives willingly for the sake of national security. In Black Box, there are two tracks of “you” narrative: in one track the “you” addresses herself, and in the other “we” addresses “you.”
Following James Phelan’s rhetorical narrative theory, Dr. Nie focuses on the narrative progression of the text, tracing the two tracks of narration. She illuminates the thematic meaning of the story as well as the audience engagement and ethical evaluation of the “you” and the “we.” In addition, Dr. Nie analyzes the relations between gender and power in the story, arguing that despite the fact that “you” has strong heroism and patriotism, with the technological devices implanted in “your” body and “your” functioning as “our Black Box,” “you” is very conventionally feminine. “We” regards “you” as expendable. As long as “you” fills her “black box” with data, “we” doesn't care whether she lives or dies. Dr. Nie then relates these thematic and ethical issues to the story's overall aesthetics.
This lecture is free and open to the public, no ticket required.
