In the majority of novels, the writer chooses a character to act as the narrator of the story, delivers the plot through them, using what they observe and do as a vehicle, and what you see is what you get. In the majority of novels...
However, there is another way. You can decide to use an unreliable narrator as the teller of your tale, someone whose account, it gradually dawns on the reader as the book progresses, is not to be trusted. This is both subtle and complex and therefore quite difficult to do: you have to keep a large number of balls in the air -- the tale as told, the true story, who knows what, what the characters are not revealing and why etc - but if you are nimble and dexterous the hard work will pay off.
Not only do you get an exciting tale unfolding, you get an exciting tale with additional spin as well. It has the benefit of making the reader work a little bit harder and therefore engage more fully with what they are reading. They don't just have to keep abreast of events, they also have to test out what can be believed and what can't.
There is a character pay off as well, as the reader is made to ask why the narrator is unreliable, what are their motives, what previous experience has bought them to this pass, and so on...
If you want to read an excellent example of how this can be achieved, Zoe Heller uses this device to great effect in her novel Notes on a Scandal, which is seen from the point of view of an elderly teacher called Barbara, who turns out to have her own rather jealous and obsessive axe to grind in relating what happened to her younger colleague Sheba. Why not pop down to the library (see my previous post) and borrow a copy to see how it's done?
No comments:
Post a Comment