Oh, William! · 009

Acknowledgments · 299
Translator's Note: We Don't Know Others' Experiences · 301

Is this my eternal mystery?
This is a story about my first husband, William, and about him and me.

The novel, which begins with the declaration, “I want to say a few things about my first husband, William,” takes the form of the narrator, Lucy, reminiscing about a series of events that have happened to her ex-husband, William, over the past two years.
At the beginning of the flashback, William is sixty-nine years old, living with his third wife, who is twenty-two years his junior, and is still a man of good health and a confident attitude that “almost nothing can harm me.”
Even after their twenty-year marriage ended and they separated, Lucy and William remained close friends, and although Lucy found comfort and happiness in her marriage to her second husband, David, she still considers the house she built with William the only home she ever had.
Then one day, William confides in Lucy an unexpected worry.


Lately, I've been having trouble sleeping because I've been having nightmare-like thoughts in the middle of the night.
And that nightmare is related to his mother, who passed away a long time ago, and his father, who came to the United States as a German prisoner of war during World War II.
As Lucy listens to William's concerns, she recalls memories of her mother-in-law, Catherine, who had treated her with great affection while she was alive, but who sometimes made strangely hurtful remarks about Lucy's poor background.
And when William discovers shocking truths about his mother's younger years and her life before meeting his father on a website that allows people to trace their family and ancestors, Catherine returns to William and Lucy's lives not as a mere memory but as a distinct entity.
And William decides to go to Maine, his mother's hometown, to find out more about her past and what she left behind long ago, and asks Lucy to accompany him.
On this journey, Lucy reflects on her childhood, her marriage to William, her relationship with her daughters, and the aftermath of her second husband's death, confronting not only the truth about Catherine, but also the truth about William, who has been a perennial mystery to her, and ultimately, the truth about herself.


Left between hesitant sentences
The void of loss and deprivation, and sealed memories

Strictly speaking, "Oh, William!" is the third work in which Lucy appears, as the short story "Little Brother" from the 2017 collection of short stories "Anything Is Possible" deals with the story of Lucy's older brother, Pete Barton, who welcomes his little brother back to his hometown after a long time.
However, considering the central character, point of view, and narrative style that drive the novel, the actual sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton should be considered Oh, William!
In particular, as in My Name is Lucy Barton, the language Strout uses in this work, which unfolds from beginning to end from the first-person point of view of the narrator, Lucy Barton, is particularly full of omissions and gaps.
Whether it's an inner monologue or a conversation with someone, speech is constantly interrupted or disjointed without ever reaching a conclusion.
Or, it is replaced by a single sound, as in a direct negative expression or exclamation, such as “Oh, I can’t say more now.”


The author does not use abstract or esoteric language to express the characters' loss and deficiency, or to express emotions or inner voices that are in a realm that cannot be verbalized or that the speaker himself is unaware of.
Instead, it leaves a gap between the speaker's failure of language and the limits of understanding.
This physical blank space on the page continues the story where language left off.
Additionally, when describing specific facts, he inserts reserved expressions such as “in my opinion,” “in my view,” and “as I remember,” emphasizing that the story is a subjective record that reflects solely the narrator’s perspective.


These hesitant sentences, sentences of questioning and doubt that dominate the entire novel, are directly connected to the theme that 'we cannot ultimately know others', as well as to the issue of free will and choice, which are among the keywords of the novel.
Lucy, who is tormented by memories of the past when she ended her marriage to William and left him, hurting her daughters, William tells her that it is very rare for us to actually 'choose' something, but rather that we simply pursue something without even realizing it.
We simply act in a certain way due to internal systems and tendencies formed through memories, experiences, and the years we have lived.
Lucy, too, has suffered lifelong trauma from the poverty that plagued her childhood and the abusive upbringing of her parents, and feels she “never really got over it, never really got over my origins, never really got over poverty.”
Even Lucy considers herself nonexistent, someone who does not occupy any material space in this world, that is, an invisible person.
And the unexplained fear that still sometimes suddenly comes over her and paralyzes her may stem from the emptiness and lack within her.


I'm amazed that I can love even a little bit? Just like my lovely psychiatrist was amazed.
She said.
“In your situation, Lucy, many people wouldn’t even try.” So what was it within me, what William called joy?

It was a joy.
Who knows why? _Page 274

Through the discontinuous narrative style, the loose narrative structure of Lucy's fragmented memories, and the physical blank spaces on the page, the author successfully visualizes the void within the characters' minds and the essence of human existence formed around that unknown world.
Humans are like confidential documents with important words erased here and there, made up of countless omissions and deletions, sealed memories and silences.
We don't know what we thought we knew, and often we don't even know that we don't know.
In this way, one of the classic devices of literature, the 'unreliable narrator', is extended to a universal human characteristic.
We are all unreliable speakers, both to one another and to ourselves.


Perhaps this is the ultimate limitation and tragedy of humanity that Strout has repeatedly spoken about.
We cannot fully understand those we love most, or even ourselves.
But the fact that we are misunderstood also means that we can come to understand things about ourselves and others we thought we knew so well that we never thought possible.
Just as Lucy, who grew up in a harsh environment devoid of love, was surprised to discover the love and joy that finally took root within herself.
In that sense, we are all texts waiting to be reread with thoughtful eyes.
Between sentences of confusion, disappointment, and sadness, we can sometimes read incredibly splendid joy and comfort.
Just like reading 『Oh, William!』.