Point of View

Midnight in Europe is told from a limited omniscient third-person narrative, with most scenes focusing on the perspective of Ferrar. For instance, when Ferrar and de Lyon are in Le Cygne for the first time, Ferrar meets Stavros for the first time, who is an old friend of Max's. Instead of, say, explaining that an old friend was approaching the table, the narration effectively "sees" the scene through Ferrar's eyes, emphasizing the unfamiliarity of Stavros: "As midnight approached, a short, swarthy bear of a man came grinning toward the table" (58).

Not every scene in the novel includes Ferrar, in which case the narration tells the scene "through" a specific, central character -- as opposed to, say, switching to a neutral perspective. For instance, when Castillo is being questioned by the officer in Madrid, the narration approaches the scene from Castillo's point of view: "The officer...