Point of View

The majority of this novel is told from the point of view of an omniscient third-person narrator. The narrator focuses mostly on the perspective of the Count but some sections of the novel do focus on different characters. For instance, in the section “Addendum,” after the Count and Anna have had their first affair, the narrator tells the story from the point of view of Anna.

In many sections of the novel, the narrator speaks directly to the reader–a way of making the reader feel as if he is part of the novel. For instance, when the narrator is telling about Anna’s second rise to popularity, he argues this rise was not entirely because of political forces that conspired to encourage her to be given roles. After he has made this point, the narrator asks the reader: “Perhaps you are still skeptical. Well...