8 Comments
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Mark M Breza's avatar

Why does everyone write in the first persnon these days ?

Mary Harrington's avatar

Wouldn’t it sound unbelievably pompous though to compose a message for my own newsletter talking about myself in the third person as though I was my PR lady

Mark M Breza's avatar

Count how many times David Ellison

used the word 'I' in his sob story to us .

Does he sound pompous ?

Mark M Breza's avatar

'Dear intelligent readers come hear me at ____.'

Now we are the subject and you are the object .

Interesting that AI is now assuming the first person singular 'I'.

Mary Harrington's avatar

I agree with you that this is more than an aesthetic thing - its implications say something fundamental about standpoint, who is being addressed, and what the assumed relationship is. I learned the third person academic style at Oxford then un-learned it again doing a psychotherapy diploma in which we were encouraged to write our own standpoint into the text. There’s a whole ethics and epistemology baked into those two writing styles and you’re not wrong to notice that the “neutral” one is in decline. I have a ton of thoughts as to why that should be, but this probably merits an essay in its own right at some point

Mark M Breza's avatar

Yes the 'I' gender generation no 'he', 'she' or 'we' allowed .

Feelings over Facts.

Journalism from a Diary .

Boo Hoo Ted Hughes

Sylvia stuck her head in an oven.

"Sylvia Plath's confessional style, characterized by the frequent use of the first-person perspective, significantly influenced modern literature. While it's challenging to quantify the exact increase in first-person writing since her time, studies indicate a general trend towards more personal and subjective narratives in various literary forms. For instance, research has shown that the frequency of first-person singular pronouns in journalistic writing has increased over time, reflecting a shift towards more involved and personal storytelling over straight third person narrator facts .

Mark Breza's avatar

The car is blue whether one thinks it is or not .

Yes, when writing in the first person you are the subject not us the readers .

When an author writes themselves into the story, they also then, become a character in the story .

Peter's avatar

Sorry, can't make it this time. Please do more of them