Reading around the Narrator in Lee Smith’s Oral History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22312896 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rhonda Armstrong, Rhonda J Armstrong (0000-0002-0671-4552, English and Foreign Languages University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-20 |
| Publication date | 2015-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Appalachian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1082-7161 • E-ISSN: 2328-8612 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5406/jappastud.21.1.0007 |
| OpenAlex | W2375146329 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Lee Smith’s 1983 novel Oral History, which she identifies as a "story about storytelling," uses multiple narrators to call into question how stories develop over time. This article examines how Smith’s own narrative strategies effectively direct readers to mistrust their narrators, and to seek out alternative narratives within the text. Using the characters of Jennifer Bingham and Granny Younger as examples, this article argues that Smith encourages readers to search the text for what the narrator may be ignoring or omitting, thereby constructing an alternative narrative by "reading around" the narrator
Art · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Storytelling · Digital and Traditional Archives Management · History · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Philosophy · Philosophy, History, and Historiography
| Highly cited | No |
|---|