Narrator

The first person narrator is the main character of the novel. She remains unnamed throughout. Within the opening page of the prologue, the narrator introduces herself amidst her musings on what she likes about old men: “I often feel that perhaps I am an old man more than I am an oldish white woman in her late fifties (the identity I am burdened with publicly presenting, to my general embarrassment)” (1, Jonas’s italics). The narrator admits to feeling like and identifying with older men because their all-encompassing desire resonates with her. As the narrative unfolds, the reader begins to learn that the narrator is also envious of men, because they are more free to pursue, act upon, and exact their desires. In an attempt to disrupt the culturally-imposed limits of her sex, she therefore tries to seduce her new colleague Vladimir without consequences.

The narrator is also a...