Unveiling The Narrative Chain: Understanding Authorship and Narration

1. The Narrative Chain

2. The Real Author • This is the person who actually writes the story, but can we ever really know this person? • D. H. Lawrence gave some famous advice: “Never trust the teller, trust the tale.” • When we examine the real author’s life in order to help us understand a story, then we are doing historical criticism.

3. The Implied Author • Since we can’t really know the real author, we don’t need to even try. • What does the text imply about the person who created it? • By reading the text, what can we assume about the author’s knowledge, interests, and motivations? • After reading Alice in Wonderland, for example, we can infer that the author is someone who wants to make fun of nobility and traditional education.

4. The Narrator • Who actually tells the story? • Does a character tell the story or does someone who is not in the story tell it? • Does this person sound like an adult or a child? • How much does this person know about what is going on insides people’s minds?

5. The Narratee • Who is the narrator addressing? • Who does it feel like the narrator is talking to? • In many stories, the narratee and the implied reader seem like the same person. • Inside the story, if one character tells a story to another story, they play the roles of another set of narrator/narratee.

6. The Implied Reader • What does the text imply about the person who reads? • What knowledge is necessary or useful to make sense out of the story and enjoy it?

7. The Real Reader • Who is the person who is actually reading the text. • This person may read and dislike the story. In such a case, the real reader is unable or unwilling to take the position of the implied reader.

8. The Narrative Chain Irony happens when the implied author and the narrator have a different understanding. The implied author expects the implied reader to not trust the narrator—to see past his words to a greater truth. Some stories have multiple narrative strands: one implied author, but many narrators.

9. Narration: internal • Internal narrators (sometimes called first-person narrators or character narrators). • Easy for young readers to empathize with • Limited viewpoints • Readers can only see what the characters see. • But sometimes readers can understand more than the character-narrator understands. • Even when a character tells her own story, she is telling it from a different time than it is happening. • When a character is closer in time to the actions they talk about, they are usually more engaging, but readers have more to figure out.

10. Narration: external • External narrators. • They are outside the story and usually not identified. • An “omniscient” narrator can go anywhere and know what’s in anyone’s mind. • A “limited omniscient” narrator can move around too, but usually only knows the mind of the protagonist. • Listen to the voice of these narrators to try to think what kind of tone or attitude they have. • Often these narrators are very didactic, telling readers exactly what they should do or think. • Sometimes these narrators are playful and teasing.