Narrative Voice, Omniscience, and Metafiction: an Analysis of Michael Cunningham’s Day

Abstract

In this thesis I will analyze Michael Cunningham’s 2023 book Day, specifically focusing on the issues of narrative voice and metafiction. I argue that this novel can be defined as an instance of contemporary omniscience, and that it uses metafiction to connect with the reader through a possible mise en abyme structure. I will start by investigating the concept of narrative "voice" and by considering narratological debates around the categories of voice and focalization, after which I will exemplify the ways in which Day’s narrator can be audibly felt—despite his attempts to camouflage as a character—at the textual level. For this purpose, I will specifically look at the technique of “free indirect discourse" (FID) and at Richard Aczel's concept of "stylistic expressivity." In a second moment, I will argue that Day's narrator can be classified as "omniscient" following Paul Dawson’s definition of contemporary omniscient narration, and investigate whether Day's narration is better described by his "modes," by Monika Fludernik's "new type of nonnatural narration," or whether it is a unique instance of omniscience altogether. In the second part of this thesis I will study the use of metafiction in Day, its connection to narrative voice and to the figure of Wolfe, a fictional creation of the protagonists Isabel and Robbie that is intimately connected to contemporary social media (specifically, Instagram) and to the narrator's voice. I will argue that the entire novel is framed by Wolfe, the most fictional character of all, and that the first chapter functions as a prologue to the story. I ultimately argue that Cunningham employs metafiction and mise en abyme in his novel to make the reader reflect on the way human communication and relationships have evolved in the contemporary age, and that Wolfe, due to his paradoxical nature and unique connection to Instagram, is able to transcend the textual boundaries of the story and to connect with readers on a real level.