'We' POV / Term For?

Ken · Sep 12, 2009

What POV is it when one writes as 'we,' meaning everyone in existence, eg:

We've inhabited the Earth for too long. We need to travel to another planet. So we begin building a large space ship ...

(Seems to me like it's first person, but am by no means sure of that.)
Thanks in advance!

Priene · Sep 12, 2009

I'd call it "first person plural".

Kathleen42 · Sep 12, 2009

I call it first person plural. Not sure if that's correct or not. Then We Came to the End is largely written in that POV.

Ken · Sep 12, 2009

Thanks Priene. You're right. Googled 'first person plural':

In the first-person-plural point of view, narrators tell the story using "we". That is, no individual speaker is identified; the narrator is a member of a group that acts as a unit. The first-person-plural point of view occurs rarely but can be used effectively, sometimes as a means to increase the concentration on the character or characters the story is about. Examples: William Faulkner in A Rose for Emily (Faulkner was an avid experimenter in using unusual points of view - see his Spotted Horses, told in third person plural), Frederik Pohl in Man Plus, and more recently, Jeffrey Eugenides in his novel The Virgin Suicides and Joshua Ferris in Then We Came to the End.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_narrative

I suppose by member of a group that 'the group' can also refer to everyone.
(Will have to check out these titles...and add Then We Came to the End (National Book Award Finalist) to the list, thanks to Kathleen

Excerpt from it sounds interesting:

WE WERE FRACTIOUS AND overpaid. Our mornings lacked promise. At least those of us who smoked had something to look forward to at ten-fifteen. Most of us liked most everyone, a few of us hated specific individuals, one or two people loved everyone and everything. Those who loved everyone were unanimously reviled. We loved free bagels in the morning.

hachettebookgroup .com

Kathleen42 · Sep 12, 2009

I had a love/hate relationship with the book. It was brilliant and spot on but, to someone who's spent the last decade working in that environment, it was more than a little depressing.

Ken · Sep 12, 2009

... the 'overpaid' part sounds nice

Definitely will check out the book.
Has heaps of praise on the site.

ps Rose For Emily, full text:
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/litweb05/workshops/fiction/faulkner1.asp

Kathleen42 · Sep 12, 2009

Ken said:
... the 'overpaid' part sounds nice
Definitely will check out the book.
Has heaps of praise on the site.

ps Rose For Emily, full text:
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/litweb05/workshops/fiction/faulkner1.asp

Cool! Thanks!

hanniella · Sep 12, 2009

It must be quite a challenge to write in third person plural! No group is ever going to think as one entirely. I might have a go at writing a story using this tense. You could have bits where the odd voice comes loose and has its own little bit. Good luck with it Ken, if that's what you're doing!

Ken · Sep 12, 2009

... thanks Hanniella

I'm making the attempt with plural tense. My MC/everyman is very obviously opinionated and is certainly not representive of everyone, by any means, though they like to think they are. But I think it's coming off tolerably okay as most everyone will be able to relate with the MC's overarching POV, giving it a psychological if not actual truth. Of course it remains to be seen how reader(s) will take to it. Probably by renting it asunder, lol.

aadams73 · Sep 12, 2009

Ayn Rand's Anthem was first person plural--at least the first few pages. I didn't finish it, but not because of any problem with the POV; I simply got bored.

Lady Ice · Sep 13, 2009

I read a first person plural book called Cracks. It was really good.

Ken · Sep 13, 2009

Thanks!

Adding 'Cracks' and 'Anthem' to my imperative list of books to read.
I read Anthem way back, but recall very little about it other than that it was very philosophical and Nietzschean. Thought-provoking novella, by Rand, though it does read like propoganda at times.

john barnes on toast · Sep 13, 2009

I think, from memory, that the Virgin Suicides is first person plural

and it's brilliant.

Ken · Sep 13, 2009

Thanks

The first chapter of Virgin Suicides appeared in The Paris Review and won the 1991 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, according to a quick Google search. So I'll definitely read this stand-alone chpt, at least.

Lady Ice · Sep 18, 2009

Anthem's available to read somewhere on the internet

'We' POV / Term For?

Ken

Priene

Out to lunch

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

Ken

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

Ken

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

hanniella

Ken

aadams73

A Work in Progress

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

Ken

john barnes on toast

Ken

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions