“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah (post 2): Vianne, fifty years later, may show multiple personality symptoms of memory gap and third-person self-reference

The frame of this WWII story is that it is, at least in part, the reminiscence of Vianne, in 1995, who is now old and ill, and living on the west coast of the United States. She has gotten an invitation to attend a reunion in Paris:

“That damned invitation is haunting me. I’d swear it has a heartbeat. For days I have ignored it, but on this bright spring morning, I find myself at the counter, staring down at it. Funny. I don’t remember walking over here and yet here I am. Another woman’s hand reaches out. It can’t be my hand, not that veiny, big-knuckled monstrosity that trembles. She picks up the envelope, this other woman. Her hands are shaking even more than usual…

“Do I make a decision [about attending the reunion]? A conscious, let’s-think-it-out-and-decide-what’s-best kind of decision? No, I make a phone call to my travel agent and book a flight to Paris, through New York. Then I pack a bag…At the last minute, after I have called a taxi, I call my son and get his message machine…When I hang up, I see the taxi pull up out front. And I go” (1, pp. 383-385).

Comment

Does the section in bold, above, describe a multiple personality memory gap and a third-person self-reference to an alternate personality (“another women,” “she”), or is this just forgetfulness due to age and illness, and her sense of humor about her old age?

Since she may have been the one providing at least her part of the story of this long, detailed novel, and since she has just made her new travel arrangements so swiftly and competently, old age and illness may not be the best explanation for her memory gap and third-person self reference.

1. Kristin Hannah. The Nightingale [2015]. New York, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2017.

Added March 31: The symptoms cited in these two posts did not recur in the rest of the novel, which suggests they reflect the psychology of the author, not the psychology of these particular characters.