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Unnamed Narrator

This character is the novel's 33-year-old protagonist, who makes his living as a novelist. This character is by most accounts loosely based on Ben Lerner's personality and life, down to the protagonist's hometown of Topeka, Kansas, and his trepidation during his own transition from publishing poetry to writing novels. Once this character creates a protagonist in his own image, he calls the character based on his own identity "the author" (54).

Alex

This character is the best friend of the novel's protagonist and she is called Liza within the unnamed narrator's new novel. Near the beginning of the novel, this single character asks the protagonist to let her use his sperm to fertilize one of her eggs and produce a child she can raise as her own, with whatever level of involvement he wants. This character and the protagonist are very close and they share the most intimate...

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