The Narrator and Focalization
Keywords:
narratology, narrative technique, unreliable narrator, implied author, narrative perspective, focalizationAbstract
The narrator and focalization also remain the fundamental categories in post-classical narration theory. Both are closely connected to the narrator, implicit author, implicit reader, perspective, and point of view. What the narrator and focalizer have in common is that both of them are mediators/conveyors and drivers of the narration: the former tells the story and the latter focalizes the narrative information. The idea of the narrator as a mediator and driver of the entire narration or the image of a narrator (agent) conveying the state and events to the narratee in the form of an observation, explanation, or evaluation (usually as a combination of all three) is much more common today than the traditional image of a personified focal point that tells a story to the audience. Because there is no general typology of the narrator, the article lists options that are useful primarily as a combination of various narrator types, which fundamentally define the narrator through their interconnections, fluidity, and syncretism. The overview of narrator types first took into account the (grammatical) person or various types of participation in the story (first-person, second-person, or third-person narrator), followed by the mode in which the narrative information is conveyed (auctorial/omniscient narrator vs. figural narrative situation [personale Erzählsituation]), the reliability of the information conveyed (reliable or unreliable narrator), and a proposed classification by typical speech act or type of narration that is common to all narrator types (reporter, explainer, and evaluator). Among the narrators discussed, most attention is dedicated to the unreliable narrator, who is not yet that common in Slovenian literature. This narrator is the result of various literary communication processes that direct the reader’s attention to the narrator’s special features. His unreliability stems from various reasons, such as the narrator’s limited knowledge, personal involvement, and questionable value or moral-ethical character. The topic of the narrator is also closely connected with focalization. This refers to conveying and simultaneous “manipulation” of narrative information, which direct the reader not only via the narrator or voice, but also through the eyes; the narration system distinguishes between the subject of speech (i.e., the narrator) and the subject of perspective (i.e., the focalizer). As a form of double mediation, focalization can be divided into zero, internal, and external focalization (Genette), external and internal focalization (Bal), and simple and compound focalization (O’Neill).References
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