Showing 4 results for Unreliable Narrator
Volume 8, Issue 3 (9-2020)
Abstract
The present study is a comparative study of Jean-Paul Sartre’s The Age of Reason and Iris Murdoch’s The Bell. The main focus is on “unreliable narrator” which is a popular concept at the present time when humanity enjoys manipulating each other and suffers himself from misunderstandings. Wayne C. Booth was the earliest theorist who provided a practical definition of “unreliable narrator” and his theory is considered as the framework. Previously, the studies only focused on homodiegetic narrators but, here, other narrative techniques are analyzed. In other words, the point of view and the presence of multiple perspectives and voices are crucial in the analysis of unreliable narratives. These narrative techniques and unreliable narrators are scrutinized at the social and political contexts of the novels. Accordingly, New Historicism, specifically Stephen Greenblatt’s theory, is used as another approach to reveal the presence and function of the unreliable narrators in the selected literary works.
Volume 9, Issue 3 (11-2021)
Abstract
The “unreliable narrator” is of high significance among the modern narrative issues, that is a person due to the restricted knowledge and having no enough information, memory and Alzheimer disorders, psychosis, no attention to the grammatical signs in narrating events, speech and behavior contradiction, fear and doubt, as well as prejudice narrate those events which are incredible. Through the descriptive-analytical approach, the proposed research compares novels “Quabis Beirut” written by Ghadat-al-Saman, the Syrian author, and “Prince Ehtejab” written by Houshang Golshiri, the Iranian author, based on the components of unreliable narrator. The results indicate that the narrators of both novels are psychotic and disturbed, and this psychosis is more evident in the novel “Quabis Beirut” and the nightmare title of this novel is a clear reason itself for undesired mental state of its narrator. Both narrators have less information about the events; therefore, they regularly use the word "maybe" in their speech, and even when using the word "for sure", the sentences’ context implies their uncertainty. Both narrators are permanently in fear and hesitation states and transmit it to their reader. Memory disorder, uncalled-for repetitions, as well as speech and behavior contradiction have invalidated their narration, of course, the narrator’ non-reliability in Prince Ehtejab was prominent more with another factor called his prejudice against the Qajar dynasty, which prevented some reports being impartially presented.
Tahereh Joushaki, Ghodrat Ghasemipour, Nasrollah Emami,
Volume 13, Issue 51 (8-2020)
Abstract
Structuralist narratology does not provide methods and models to examine silence, ellipsis, and gaps in the text. This paper tried to examine the aspects of silence, ellipsis, and gaps in the narrative, by employing a text-based and analytical method. The text Nocturnal Harmony of Wood Orchestra was chosen for the analysis which is unreliably narrated. In order to identify unreliable narrator and also text’s unreliability, silences and narrative ellipsis were studied. Narrative style and related elements such as focalization, distance, narratee and the narrator’s motivation along with structural elements influence the types of ellipses in the narrative or they are influenced by the gaps of the unreliable narrative. The form can be used as a decentralization device to cover the silence or to create suspension by creating a gap. Moreover, anachronism can create or conceal the gaps and silence in narrative and frequent occurrences is a way of presenting and also covering the narrative gaps. Studying the relation between events and the catalyzer is also another way to understand the dimensions of silence and the devices that cover ellipses in the narrative. All of these were employed to study silence and ellipsis in the text.
Volume 27, Issue 4 (10-2020)
Abstract
This is a comparative study of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea and Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net. The main focus is on the role of trauma in the creation of unreliable narrators. Both Sartre and Murdoch have witnessed the horrors of World War II and it seems that their narratives are affected by such a terrible event. The characters look traumatized and suffer from the burden of the past which has never left them alone. In other words, past events have formed their identity and have rewritten their personality under the situation of World War II. Here, with the help of Wayne C. Booth’s theory of unreliable narrator, the narrators of the selected novels are scrutinized at the social and political contexts of the novels. Accordingly, considering this context and its consequent trauma, the research tries to reveal the presence and function of the unreliable narrators in the selected literary works.
