, Graham Swift’s ninth novel, was published in 2011. As in

and other novels by Swift, the narrative in

is built like a puzzle: it tells the story in a disjointed, fragmented fashion, shunning linearity and chronology, going backwards and forwards between present and past. Typically, the time span of the framing action covers a single day, from morning to night, but most of the story takes place in the past (distant or very recent), as refracted through the memories of the two main characters (with a few additional points of view now and then). The reader is constantly expected to fill in blanks, to link the dots, to reconstruct causality and logical sequence. Therefore, although the reading experience may be perceived as uncomfortable…

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Citation: Pesso-Miquel, Catherine. "Wish You Were Here". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33490, accessed 25 November 2024.]