narrative situations (F.K. Stanzel)

first-person narrator
1. involved in the world of the story
2. Distinction between narrating I and experiencing I ("narrative distance")
  1. there's a timespan between the actual events and narration time
3. I-as-witness vs. I-as-protagonist
  1. Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes and Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby
4. limited perspective (often unreliable)
5. Self-expression of the individual subject in first-person narratives
Authorial narrator
1. narrator not part of the world of the story
2. not restricted by time and place
3. can enter a character's thoughts
4. omnipresent and omniscient
5. Imitation of divine perspective on the human world
6. often considered more objective than first-person narrator
Figural narrative situation
1. narrator "disappears" behind a character
  1. readers share thoughts, feelings, perceptions of a character
2. characters as reflector of sensual impressions is not aware of communication
3. showing mode (vs. predominant telling mode in first-person and authorial narratives)

Resource summary

	Created by kuemli over 10 years ago