NARRATIVE DISTANCE IN PERFUME

1. NARRATIVE DISTANCE IN PERFUME

2. DEFINITION • The distance a narrator keeps from the beliefs, biases and feelings of the characters. • Detachment • Objectivity

3. OMNISCIENT NARRATOR • Third person • Sees everything • Reads thoughts • Can go anywhere • Maybe be partially omniscient or selectively omniscient.

4. THE CAMERA-EYE NARRATOR • Third person • A record-keeper • Can’t read minds • Can be fairly objective

5. FIRST-PERSON NARRATOR • Participant • Usually the protagonist • Can be minor character • May not always be reliable • Definitely subjective

6. INTERIOR MONOLOGUE • A narrative method • When the narrative follows a character and his/her thoughts • Character almost becomes narrator • Puts characters close to the readers

7. METAFICTION • Self-aware narration • Draws attention to the fact that it is a story “In the period of which we speak..” (Ch 1, Perfume) “Since we are to leave Madame Galliard behind us at this point in the story…” (Ch 5, Perfume)

8. NARRATIVE DISTANCE • How close the narrator is to the characters. • Similar to varying degrees of omniscience. • Changes the degree of subjectivity.

9. “Decoding Narrative Distance”Dave King • Vocab and grammar used? • Details of setting and characters the narrator chooses to include? • Interior monologue?

10. EXTRACT ONE When the marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse received word that in Pierrefort an individual had been found who had dwelt in a cave for seven years-that is, completely encapsulated by the corrupting element of the earth-he was beside himself with delight and immediately had Grenouille brought to his laboratory, where he subjected him to a thorough examination. He found his theories confirmed most graphically: the fluidum letale had already so assaulted Grenouille that his twenty-five-year-old body clearly showed the marks of senile deterioration. All that had prevented his death, Taillade-Espinasse declared, was that during his imprisonment Grenouille had been given earth-removed plants... P145

11. EXTRACT TWO • He was not out of his mind, which was so clear and buoyant that he asked himself why he wanted to do it at all. And he said to himself that he wanted to do it because he was evil, thoroughly evil. And he smiled as he said it and was content. He looked quite innocent, like any happy person. • He sat there for a while, with an air of devout tranquillity, and took deep breaths, inhaling the incense-laden air. And yet another cheerful grin crossed his face. How miserable this God smelled! • How ridiculously bad the scent that this God let spill from Him. It was not even genuine frankincense fuming up out of those thuribles. A bad substitute, adulterated with linden and cinnamon dust and saltpeter. God stank. God was a poor little stinker. He had been swindled, this God had, or was Himself a swindler, no different from Grenouille-only a considerably worse one! • P161

12. CLOSE READING • Which phrases suggest a close proximity between narrator and character? • …and which suggest detachment? • What is the purpose of each passage? • What is the reader’s role in finding the meaning?

13. TASK • Write on paragraph of at least 10 lines • Why does Suskind vary the narrative distance in Perfume? • Your paragraph should include some ideas from the discussion.