O’Brien separates the stories in this novel by prefacing them with the narrator/author’s notes:
Further extract from my Manuscript on the subject of Mr. Trellis’s Manuscript on the subject of John Furrisky, his first steps in life and his first meeting with those who were destined to become his first friends; the direct style: He remarked…etc. (p. 67)
These prefaces are in italics, and separated by white space.
Thank God.
But the idea that O’Brien presents us with, that of a writer writing about a writer (not counting O’Brien himself), would of course be complicated without the "mapping" that he provides.
I wonder how hypertext would work in this particular novel, but the idea is interesting.
O’Brien also takes on the problem of a full grown protagonist:
He remarked to himself that is was a nice pass when a men did not know the shape of his own face. His voice startled him. He had the accent and intronation usually associated with the Dublin lower or working classes. (p. 67)
It amazes me how much planning and attention to the progression of story line this novel must have taken. And yet, this also had to be a work inspired. That, I suppose, is one of the elements necessary in such a complex novel: an author who enjoys and knows how to plot, how to storyboard.
Which brings me to another question: How much would new technology such as a software program like Storyspace have helped O’Brien plan this out?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology