“The Night Guest” (1) by Icelandic novelist Hildur Knútsdóttir: Hint to nature of “night guest,” which is never explicitly stated in the novel

Hint

“Somnambulism [sleepwalking] is not uncommon in adult victims of MPD. Patients frequently have the experience of waking up in the morning and finding evidence that they were busy during the night, although they do not remember anything. They may find drawings, notes, poems, relocated furniture, discarded clothing, or other evidence that they have been up and busy. If this is a common life experience for a patient, there is an excellent chance that he or she has MPD” (2, p. 81).

Comment: Since “multiple personality” (a.k.a. dissociative identity) is never explicitly mentioned in this novel, the reader still has to understand what is going on.

1. Hildur Knútsdóttir. The Night Guest. Trans. from Icelandic by Mary Robinette Kowal. New York, Tor Nightfire, 2021

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989. 

“The Guest List” by Lucy Foley: Meaning of Voices and Parts

Jules, bride-to-be, thinks that the setting for her marriage is perfect: “Everything is going to be perfect” (1, p. 16).

However, using the literary convention of italics for a voice in the head, a voice in her head advises her: “Don’t think about the note, Jules.”

Jules agrees: "I will not think about the note (that she found in her letter box three weeks ago) that…“told me not to marry Will. To call it off,” (1, p. 16).

Comment: Conversations with rational (but not infallible) voices in the head—voices of alternate personalities—are often found in multiple personality. But since Jules is not labelled as having multiple personality, the above may reflect the novelist’s psychology, a creative literary asset I call “multiple personality trait.” Search it in this blog and see below:

Author’s afterword: The author’s reference to “a sneaky little part of me that’s always on the lookout for inspiration” (1, p. 3 “About the book”) may refer to a creative alternate personality in her “multiple personality trait.” 

1. Lucy Foley. The Guest List. New York, William Morrow, 2020. 

“Memoirs of a Geisha” a novel by Arthur Golden: Traumatized protagonist has both childhood and Geisha personalities—“fragments” or “parts"— causing puzzling contradictions in behavior and memory gaps

“…how could Nobu [her adult romantic interest] possibly understand anything about me, when he’d seen me solely as a geisha, keeping my true self carefully concealed? The Chairman [an eminent businessman] was the only man I’d ever entertained as Sayuri the geisha, who had also known me as Chiyo [from her childhood]—though it was strange to think of it this way, for I’d never realized it before…Why couldn’t I stop thinking about the Chairman [and stop saving the handkerchief he’d given her in a kindly gesture, many years ago]? (1, p. 394).

“My thoughts were in fragments I could hardly piece together. Certainly it was true that part of me hoped desperately to be adopted by Mr. Tanaka after my mother died, but another part of me was very much afraid…I don’t know how much time passed…(1, p. 21).

Comment: Persons with undiagnosed multiple personality often report having “parts” and memory gaps (if you ask them) due to alternate personalities, which also may cause puzzling contradictions in the person’s behavior. As in most novels with such symptoms, there is no explicit reference to multiple personality, because the author didn’t realize it was at issue. Search “parts,” “memory gaps,” and “puzzling contradictions” for relevant past posts. Many readers evidently find unlabelled multiple personality entertaining.

1. Arthur Golden. Memoirs of a Geisha. New York, Vintage, 1997.