Dual Narration and Externalizing Interiority in Esther Yi's 'Y/N'

<p>Positive and negative reviews of Esther Yi’s <em>Y/N</em> (2023) almost exclusively focus on the novel’s relationship with online fan culture, which, while prevalent, says little about N, its lead character and narrator. This paper therefore places N at the root of its discussion of <em>Y/N</em>, as it explores her agency as a dual narrator: one who narrates her day-to-day experiences alongside excerpts of her creative work, a third-person self-insert fanfiction based around K-pop superstar Moon. It specifically argues that the core of N’s conflict is not a romantic or sexual obsession with Moon, as has been claimed by previous critics, but her need to project onto him, displacing her internal monologue onto him rather than claiming direct ownership. It first examines the narrative relationship between Esther Yi, N, and Y/N as a fictocritical dynamic, where the line between fictional narrative and literary critique is blurred due to its paratextual subject. It then proposes N as a failed fictocritic: one attempting to conceptualize a “true” version of Moon, but only succeeding in revealing her own psychological hang-ups. The tension between N and her paratextual subject—Moon’s rigidly constructed, highly marketable persona—allows the novel to expand its discussion globally, thus allowing the reader to contemplate the relationship between artists and audiences in the twenty-first century, a dynamic increasingly defined by the Internet. This paper concludes by considering the implications of <em>Y/N</em>’s abrupt ending, one which purposefully avoids resolving N’s identity crisis in favor of retreating to an already dead fantasy.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Murphy, Mary

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Ery Shin
• Dr. Monika Gehlawat
• Dr. Craig Carey

• y/n
• esther yi
• fictocriticism
• artist-audience relationships
• identity construction
• dual narration
• Literature in English, North America
• Modern Literature

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1160

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-2256