He writes, "I have called a narrator reliable when he speaks for or acts in accordance with the norms of the work (which is to say the implied author's norms), unreliable when he does not." Peter J. Booth was among the first critics to formulate a reader-centered approach to unreliable narration and to distinguish between a reliable and unreliable narrator on the grounds of whether the narrator's speech violates or conforms with general norms and values. For example, in the three interweaving plays of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, each confines the action to one of three locations during the course of a weekend.ĭefinitions and theoretical approaches It remains a matter of debate whether and how a non-first-person narrator can be unreliable, though the deliberate restriction of information to the audience can provide instances of unreliable narrative, even if not necessarily of an unreliable narrator. John Dowell in Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier exemplifies this kind of narrator. The Liar a mature narrator of sound cognition who deliberately misrepresents themselves, often to obscure their unseemly or discreditable past conduct. Examples of naïves include Huckleberry Finn, Holden Caulfield and Forrest Gump. The Naïf a narrator whose perception is immature or limited through their point of view. Examples of the type include Tristram Shandy and Bras Cubas. The Clown a narrator who does not take narrations seriously and consciously plays with conventions, truth, and the reader's expectations. ![]() Examples include Franz Kafka's self-alienating narrators, noir fiction and hardboiled fiction's "tough" (cynical) narrator who unreliably describes his own emotions, Barbara Covett in Notes on a Scandal, Charles Kinbote in Pale Fire, and Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Examples in modern literature are Moll Flanders, Simplicius Simplicissimus or Felix Krull.Berlinale The Madman a narrator who is either only experiencing mental defense mechanisms, such as (post-traumatic) dissociation and self-alienation, or severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia or paranoia. The Pícaro a narrator who is characterized by exaggeration and bragging, the first example probably being the soldier in Plautus' comedy Miles Gloriosus. Adapted from his findings is the following list: William Riggan analysed in a 1981 study discernible types of unreliable narrators, focusing on the first-person narrator as this is the most common kind of unreliable narration. 3 Notable works featuring unreliable narratorsĪttempts have been made at a classification of unreliable narrators.1.2 Definitions and theoretical approaches.In some cases the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving readers to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted. Such a twist ending forces readers to reconsider their point of view and experience of the story. In some cases, the reader discovers that in the foregoing narrative, the narrator had concealed or greatly misrepresented vital pieces of information. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to the character's unreliability. Sometimes the narrator's unreliability is made immediately evident. ![]() While unreliable narrators are almost by definition first-person narrators, arguments have been made for the existence of unreliable second- and third-person narrators, especially within the context of film and television, and sometimes also in literature. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. Tall tales, such as those of the Baron, often feature unreliable narrators.Īn unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. ![]() ![]() Illustration by Gustave Doré of Baron Munchausen's tale of being swallowed by a whale.
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