Third Person "Reliable Narration"
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There are really only 4 types of narration for fiction— 2 BIG ONES Third Person “Reliable Narration” (third person omniscient) First Person “Unreliable Narration” (first person narration who knows less about himself than the reader eventually does 2 NOT SO BIG ONES Second Person Singular “You” are the narrator First person Plural “We are the narrator
WG Sebald once said: “I think that fiction writing which does not acknowledge the uncertainty of the narrator himself is a form of imposture which I find very, very difficult to take. Any form of authorial writing where the narrator sets himself up as stagehand and director and judge and executers in a text, I find somehow unacceptable. I cannot bear to read books of this kind.”
IN ACTUALITY, first person narration is generally more reliable than unreliable, and third person “omniscient” narration is generally more “partial” than “omniscient.” Doesn’t this smack in the face of what you’ve heard about writing? So how do we defend this opinion? By relying not on the narrator (a separate entity from the writer) but relying on the writer. A good writer gives his readers “a process of authorial flagging.” In other words, “the novel teaches us how to read its narrator.” Or, a good writer can show his readers the level of reliability of his narrator, thereby making an unreliable narrator, in a way, reliable, because readers will know that the narrator will say things that aren’t true and readers will be able to follow it. FURTHERMORE, omniscient narration is rarely as omniscient as it seems because, frankly, a writer CANNOT be omniscient or godlike. He can know everything but he cannot be removed. In other words, the very act of writing draws attention toward the writer, the artifice of the writer’s construction, the writer’s own impress. “Omniscience” in storytelling is almost impossible because we cannot be God because we are not God. We are, however, three things working together: A novelist A narrator A character They combine, become one voice, this is often called FREE INDIRECT STYLE. HOW DOES IT WORK? He looked over at his wife. “She looks so unhappy,” he thought, “almost sick.” He wondered what to say. This passage is “direct or quoted speech” combined with the character’s “reported or indirect speech.” It is an old-fashioned notion of a character’s thoughts as a speech made to himself, a kind of internal address. He looked over at his wife. She looked so unhappy, he thought, almost sick. He wondered what to say. This passage is “reported or indirect speech.” It is the internal speech of the husband as reported by the author and flagged as such with the phrase “he thought.” It is the most recognizable of all the codes of standard realist narrative. He looked at his wife. Yes, she was tiresomely unhappy again, almost sick. What the hell should he say? This is “free indirect speech or style:” the husband’s internal speech or thought has been freed of its authorial flagging; no “he said to himself” or “he wondered” or “he thought.” It is far more flexible than the other two We are close to stream of consciousness and that is the direction free indirect style takes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, something like this:
“Uncle Charles Principal” comes into play when a narrator uses juxtaposition or hyperbole to describe an event, usually using it incorrectly to give readers insight to a character (see pages 18-19) “Mock heroic” applies the language of the epic or the Bible to reduced human subjects “Authorial Irony” when the gap between an author’s voice and a character’s voice does indeed seem rebelliously to have taken over the narration altogether. (example on page 22) “Unidentified Free Indirect Style” when a style seems to be written technically in authorial third person but emanates from a larger community, they are thick with proverbial sayings, truisms, and homely similes. Things to keep in mind! Free Indirect Style solves much, but accentuates a problem inherent in all fictional narration: Do the words these characters use seem like the words they might use or do they sound more like the author’s? On the one hand, the author wants to have his or her own words, wants to be the master of a personal style; on the other hand, narrative bends toward its characters and their habits of speech! Writers must see this conflict to balance it! The right word at the right time is the definition of balance in literature, so you, the writer, have to decide when it is appropriate to sound more like the author and when it is appropriate to sound more like the characters. This is different for each story!!! But understand this: To fully use the language to your benefit, you must see it for all its beauty and ugliness (if you can do this, then you are on the right track toward knowing when to use a more authorial voice and when to use a more character driven voice). Two things to avoid: Aestheticism—the author gets in the way Aestheticism—the character is all But wait, there is more! The novelist is always working with at least three languages: The author’s own language, style, perception, etc The character’s presumed language, style, perception, etc The language of the world—the language fiction inherits before it gets to turn it into novelistic style, the language of daily speech, of newspapers, of offices, of the blogosphere and text messaging Essentially, the writer NEEDS to know when to slow down, to draw attention to a potentially neglected surface or texture—sometimes called the DESCRIPTIVE PAUSE—when the action stops, somewhat, never totally, and something is described. This tells the reader that something is important! TIP Remember, what is said actually says more than what is literarily said. It is a case of reading, not between the lines, but into the lines!! The tension between the author’s style and his or her characters’ styles becomes acute when three elements coincide: When a notable stylist is at work (a writer, someone playing with the language, using it to his benefit When the stylist has a commitment to following the perceptions and thoughts of his or her characters When the stylist has a special interest in the rendering of detail Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 21.66 Kb. Share with your friends:
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