Point of View

The novel is written from the third person point of view. This third person omniscient narration is essential to understanding the author’s overarching formal choices, narrative structure, and thematic considerations. Although the novel opens with scenes of Katharina in the narrative present, living her life years following her affair with Hans, once "Box I" begins, Katharina and Hans’s experiences, perspectives, and vantage points begin to coexist and converge on the page. The simultaneity of their voices and points of view is made possible by the third person omniscient narration. The reader might refer to the opening page of "Box I," Chapter 1, by way of example: “On that Friday in July, she thought: Even if he comes now, I’m still going. On that Friday in July, he spent all day over two sentences. Who knew writing was this hard, he thought. She thought...