Why Are So Many Contemporary Novelists Not Naming the Narrator?

The article highlights a trend in contemporary fiction where many novels feature narrators without names. This trend has been noted since at least 2015, when critic Sam Sacks called it an 'epidemic' in the New Yorker. Examples include novels like Audition by Katie Kitamura, Transcription by Ben Lerner, My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein by Deborah Levy, and Life of M by Rachel Cusk. These narrators are not confined to specific genres like apocalypse or thriller novels but appear in plot-light, 'vibe-heavy' literary fiction. The absence of a name often becomes noticeable only after finishing the book, leaving readers unaware of a fundamental detail about the narrator despite knowing intimate aspects of their life.

Names often serve as proxies for identity, and their absence can reflect the instability or fluidity of a character's self. For instance, in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, the second Mrs. de Winter is unnamed, symbolizing her lack of a fixed identity as she tries to replace Rebecca, the first wife. Similarly, Audition explores the instability of self through an unnamed narrator who experiences a 'superimposition of one mind on top of another mind.' The article suggests that anonymity might be intended to create a vessel for the reader to step into, akin to the idea of 'Everyman,' a universal character representing humanity. However, the effectiveness of this approach is debated, as identifying with a narrator depends less on the presence or absence of a name and more on other factors like shared experiences or desires.

The article argues that names are not just internal markers of identity but also external tools by which others recognize and conceptualize a person. In Rebecca, the narrator’s name is known to everyone except the reader, highlighting how a name shapes how others perceive her. This idea is linked to the narrative perspective: an unnamed narrator places the reader in a position where they can only see through the narrator’s eyes, without external validation or description. This shift in narrative position reflects a broader trend in modernist literature, which moved away from the omniscient third-person narrator of the 19th century to a more inward, subjective perspective.

The trend of unnamed narrators is connected to modernist literature, which emerged in the early 20th century as a response to secularization, industrialization, and the trauma of World War I. Modernist novels often used free indirect discourse (a narrative technique blending the narrator’s voice with the character’s thoughts) to approximate the movement of thought. This inward turn shifted the novel’s focus from an objective, God-like perspective to the subjective experiences of individuals. The unnamed narrator continues this project by refusing to allow the reader to step outside the character’s consciousness, creating a sense of immediacy and mystery.

The article suggests that contemporary unnamed narrators may reflect broader cultural shifts, particularly the impact of technology on self-perception. Novels like Transcription by Ben Lerner explore how technology 'structures experience even when quiet,' highlighting the gap between how we see ourselves and how others perceive us. This gap is exacerbated by smartphones and social media, which make us hyper-aware of the distance between our private and public selves. Additionally, as work and daily life become less communal, the self is increasingly defined privately, leading to a cultural preoccupation with the question of whether we are looking or being looked at.