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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8178-The-path-we-follow.html
Short Stories: March 15, 2017 Issue [#8178]

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Short Stories


 This week: The path we follow
  Edited by: Andy~hating university Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

A passenger on a road journey is in the hands of a driver.

A reader embarking on a book is in the hands of a narrator.

Romesh Gunesekaera


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

In any story we rely on the narrator to guide us. In third person, we don't always think about the narrator (I know I don't). But in first person stories, the role of the narrator is very important.

We trust an army officer recounting a story about a war they fought in, we trust a parent telling us a story about when their child was born, in fact we pretty much trust any narrator implicitly. We have no reason to question the narrator’s version of the story, but perhaps we shouldn’t be quite so gullible.

There is a plot device sometimes used called the unreliable narrator. This is where the narrator’s credibility has been compromised. It could be that the narrator is delusional, insane, lying, a child, or any number of other reasons.

Although such narrators have been around probably for as long as story-telling has been around (how often have you been told about the fish “that big” that got away), the phrase only came into being in 1961; the American literary critic Wayne Clayson Booth coined it in his book The Rhetoric of Fiction.

Examples of unreliable narrators range from Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca” (because she misunderstands everything about her situation), to Paula Hawkins “The Girl on the Train” (because she is perpetually drunk and suffers from black outs), to Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw” (whose governess narrator is probably delusional and going through a nervous breakdown).

One of my personal favourite uses of this device occurs in the Stephen King short story “Strawberry Spring”.

The unnamed narrator tells the story of a murder spree, committed by someone who came to be known as Springheel Jack, that occurred during an early spring heatwave eight years previous. The murderer was never caught, and the ending of the book implies that the unnamed narrator is actually Springheel Jack, though he has no personal memory of committing the murders and believes that he was actually have an affair while the murders were happening.

So the next time you read a novel, don’t implicitly trust the person behind the wheel.



Editor's Picks

Healthy Shakes Open in new Window. [13+]
Slam poetry written for Rising Stars. It's best when heard, rather than read.
by Choconut Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Prequel to Love In Cheshire 1966. Open in new Window. [18+]
Retro fiction.
by Bruce. Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 
Love for a Lifetime Open in new Window. [E]
60 years of true love can teach one how to train others to truly love for a lifetime.
by Jay O'Toole Author Icon


 
One Of A Kind Open in new Window. [18+]
Ever been on an internet dating site?
by Jellyfish in Morocco Author Icon


Fragment Open in new Window. [18+]
A fragment of the past. For Love Shouldn't Hurt.
by NaNoKit Author Icon

 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

The next time you read a story here on WDC, spare a thought for the narrator. Is there anything that suggests you are dealing with an unreliable narrator? Why do think that? And don't keep it to yourself. Let me know, and I might feature it in a future Newsletter.

The next time you write a story or poem consider using an unreliable narrator, and see if it throws a different perception on your item.

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