Analyse af William Lychacks novelle 'Stolpestad'

The text ”Stolpestad” is written in 2008 by William Lychack. The text deals with life in the postmodern society through his main character Stolpestad. A middle-aged police officer that isn’t able to settle in the hectic and confusing postmodern world. What starts out as a routine ends up becoming a journey for spiritual arising, as Stolpestad comes to some life changing realizations.

In Stolpestad we find a special narration technique. It seems to the narrator describes a certain episode in Stolpestad’s life to Stolpestad himself, as he consistently uses the word “you” when there’s been talking about Stolpestad. As an example that the narrator addresses Stolpestad directly “This is your life, Stolpestad” (l. 5). The reader becomes like a observant, passively observing a specific episode in Stolpestad’s life thro the narrator’s descriptions. The narrator is non-omniscient to Stolpestad. As the word “you” is repeated many times, the narrator might be a second person narrator, although that isn’t a normally used technique.

The implication of this unusual technique can be discussed. Some might argue that the narrator is Stolpestad himself, and that he is thereby looking back on a certain episode in his own life. This theory can be supported by the very first word of the short story “it was”, which indicates that this is something that has happened – in the past. If the narrator were to be Stolpestad himself that would mean that all of the short story takes place inside the mind of Stolpestad. The other theory is, that Stolpestad is a symbol of the postmodern individual, and that the narrator addresses the reader directly by saying “you”.