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Narrator
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"Narration" redirects here. For the English band, see Narration (band).

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This article is about the dramatic device. For the Microsoft software, see Microsoft Narrator. For
the Doctor Who character, see Rassilon.
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A narrator is, within any story (literary work, movie, play, verbal account, etc.), the fictional or nonfictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also
a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The
narrator is one of three entities responsible for story-telling of any kind. The others are the author and
the audience; the latter called the "reader" when referring specifically to literature.
The author and the audience both inhabit the real world. It is the author's function to create the
universe, people, and events within the story. It is the audience's function to understand and interpret
the story. The narrator only exists within the world of the story (and only therealthough in nonfiction the narrator and the author can share the same persona, since the real world and the world of
the story may be the same) and present it in a way the audience can comprehend.
A narrator may tell the story from his or her own point of view (as a fictive entity) or from the point of
view of one of the characters in the story. The act or process of telling the particulars of a story is
referred to as narration. Along with exposition, argumentation, and description, narration (broadly
defined) is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse. More narrowly defined, narration is the fictionwriting mode whereby the narrator communicates directly to the reader.
The concept of the unreliable narrator (as opposed to "author") became more prominent with the rise
of the novel in the 18th century. Until the late 19th century, literary criticism as an academic exercise
dealt solely with poetry (including epic poems like the Iliad and Paradise Lost, and poetic drama like
Shakespeare). Most poems did not have a narrator distinct from the author. But novels, with their
immersive fictional worlds, created a problem, especially when the narrator's views differed

significantly [clarification needed] from those of the author.

Suomi

Perspective, interpretive knowledge, focalization and structure are the narrator's characteristics.
Perspective and interpretive knowledge are essential characteristics of the narrator. Focalization and

Svenska
Trke

structure are lateral. [1]

An example of a viewpoint character, is Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Almost all of
the Sherlock Holmes collection is from his point of view.
Contents [hide]
1 Types of narrators
1.1 Narrative modes

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Narrator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1.2 Multiple narrators
1.3 The narrative types of the narrator
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Types of narrators

[edit]

Narrative modes

[edit]

A writer's choice of narrator is crucial for the way a work of fiction is perceived by the reader. Most
narrators present their story from one of the following perspectives (called narrative modes): firstperson, or third-person limited or omniscient. Generally, a first-person narrator brings greater focus
on the feelings, opinions, and perceptions of a particular character in a story, and on how the
character views the world and the views of other characters. If the writer's intention is to get inside
the world of a character, then it is a good choice, although a third-person limited narrator is an
alternative that does not require the writer to reveal all that a first-person character would know. By
contrast, a third-person omniscient narrator gives a panoramic view of the world of the story, looking
into many characters and into the broader background of a story. A third-person omniscient narrator
can tell feelings of every character. For stories in which the context and the views of many characters
are important, a third-person narrator is a better choice. However, a third-person narrator does not
need to be an omnipresent guide, but instead may merely be the protagonist referring to himself in
the third person (also known as third person limited narrator).

Multiple narrators

[edit]

A writer may choose to let several narrators tell the story from different points of view. Then it is up to
the reader to decide which narrator seems most reliable for each part of the story. It may refer to the
style of the writer in which he/she expresses the paragraph written. See for instance the works of
Louise Erdrich. William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is a prime example of the use of multiple narrators.
Faulkner employs stream of consciousness by narrating the story from the first person view of
multiple characters. Each chapter is devoted to the voice of a single character after whom it is titled.
Some writers employ an alternate form of this style, in which multiple characters narrate the story at
once, or at least a single character narrates the actions of a group of characters while never referring
to a "me", and only to a "we" of the group. The technique of narrating from the point of view of a
group as opposed to an individual can create a dissociative effect of observation, as if a Greek
chorus, or personalize the story further by providing the reader with the knowledge and experience of
a party involved in the story, without the unrelatable specifics of an individual personality or character.
Examples of first-person plural narration include Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted and Jeffrey Eugenides'
The Virgin Suicides.
In literary work, the narrator is the person who tells the story. Point of view is the narrator's
relationship to the story. In a story using first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the
story. The reader sees everything through that character's eyes. In a work with third-person limited
point of view, the narrator is outside the story and reveals the thoughts and feelings of only one
character.

The narrative types of the narrator

[2]

I-Hero
Spectator
Interpreter
Mirror
Spectator
Interpreter
Twin
Spectator

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[edit]

Narrator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interpreter
Spirit
Spectator
Interpreter
Envoy
Spectator
Interpreter
Viewer
Solofocus
Spectator
Interpreter
Difocus
Spectator
Interpreter
Polyfocus
Spectator
Interpreter

See also

[edit]

Film theory
Free indirect speech
Voice-over

References

[edit]

1. ^ Ranjbar Vahid. (2011) The Narrator, Iran:Baqney

2. ^ Ranjbar Vahid. The Narrator, Iran:Baqney. 2011

External links

[edit]

The Narrator short film

Narrator

in different languages

Directory of International voice talent for narrations

UK based voice overs and narrators
The Narrator
Narrative

vde
Character
Plot

[hide]

Antagonist/Archenemy Characterization Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character

Foil character Protagonist Supporting character Tritagonist Viewpoint character
Climax Conflict Dnouement Dialogue Dramatic structure Exposition Falling action
Plot device Subplot Trope-Clich

Setting

Dystopia Fictional city Fictional country Fictional location Fictional universe Utopia

Theme

Leitmotif Moral Motif

Style

Diction Figure of speech Imagery Literary technique Narrative mode Stylistic device
Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone

Form

Fable-Parable Fabliaux Fairy tale Flash story Folktale-Legend Hypertext Novel Novella
Play Poem Screenplay Short story List of narrative forms

Genre

Adventure Comic Crime Docufiction Epistolary Erotic Faction Fantasy Historical

Horror Magic realism Mystery Paranoid Philosophical Political Romance Saga Satire
Science Speculative Superhero Thriller Urban
Alternating person First-person Second-person Third-person (Limited Objective Omniscient

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Narrator
Tense

Subjective) Stream of consciousness The narrative types of the narrator Unreliable

Past tense Present tense Future tense

Medium

Screenwriting

Related

Audience Author Fiction writing Creative nonfiction Literary theory Narrative structure
Narratology Other narrative modes Rhetoric Storytelling
Literature portal

Categories: Fiction Literary criticism

Documentary film techniques

Narratology

Point of view

Style (fiction)

This page was last modified on 21 February 2012 at 21:06.

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