Allegedly, when asked why writers rarely use omniscience anymore, Rick Moody answered, “Because God is dead.”
Your own religious or Nietzschean beliefs aside, it does seem that in the 20th century, we largely abandoned omniscient authority in favor of the subjective, limited point of view, and the 21st century has so far favored the pluralism of the polyphonic novel. But omniscience, done well, can be thrilling, can open new narrative possibilities, and can now once again sound fresh and new. And omniscience combined with postmodern textual elements can give us something Charles Dickens never could. We’ll look at some old and new examples of omniscience done brilliantly, figure out what makes it work, and brainstorm our own omniscient takeovers of fictional worlds.
REBECCA MAKKAI is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel I Have Some Questions for You as well as four other works of fiction. Her last novel, The Great Believers, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize among other honors. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and UNR Tahoe, and serves as Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.
