Date:         Tue, 11 Nov 1997 00:10:12 EST
From: let me tink <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: TECH: Let's Talk about...POV and Tense

On Mon, 10 Nov 1997 11:54:40 PST, Celia <hixon@E2.EMPIRENET.COM> asked:
:)
:) Where on your scale do you put the first person story that is written
:) from the view of a Doctor Watson type character. This character is the
:) POV character, but everything is filtered through the perceptions and
:) activities of another character. Ergo, not really first person at all. Or
:) is it?

First off, thank you for the opportunity to drag out my Complete
Sherlock Holmes and do some checking.

As you say, the stories are told from the first person POV
(Dr. Watson).  This is almost a cliche now in mystery stories
(although still with lots of life in it)--telling the story from the
POV of the "great detective's assistant" (or other sidekick).  I
consider them very much as first person POV tales.

A little different question might be why should the "first person" be
the sidekick instead of the "great detective" himself (or herself)?

I think there are at least two reasons.  First, this allows the
"secret thinking" of the great detective to remain a mystery, making
it easier for the reader to pummel their brains in competition with
the detective.  One of the great "tricks" of the Nero Wolfe series by
Rex Stout was that the person who did all the running around was NOT
the great detective, but the assistant.  So we could be relatively
sure that the detective did not have any knowledge except what "we"
had reported to him--and he still out-thought us!

Second, I think it is a little easier for the reader to "imagine
themselves" in the shoes of the sidekick.  Watching the great
detective lay down in the wet grass or otherwise surprise us, then
eventually being surprised when they resolve the puzzle...being
"Dr. Watson" is much easier for the reader than being "Sherlock
Holmes."

Hum...you do bring up a point, though.  The first person narrator may
or may not be the protagonist--the primary actor around whom the story
turns.  So perhaps we should consider when it is useful for the
narrator to also be the protagonist?

Could the narrator be the antagonist?

Incidentally, the first person narrator usually is a more rounded or
full character than the third person narrator (who frequently is
little more than a POV).  So perhaps when the character of the
narrator is important to the story, we should use first person?

tink