Understanding and handling unreliable narratives
A pragmatic model and method
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4474056 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Theresa Heyd (0000-0001-5940-4569, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 2006 |
| Issue | 162 |
| Publication date | 2006-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Semiotica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/sem.2006.078 |
| OpenAlex | W2072492535 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 6 |
This paper explores the pragmatic foundations of unreliable narration (UN), a narrative technique highly popular in western literary texts. It sets out by giving a critique of the competing theoretic frameworks of UN, namely the seminal Boothian concept and more recent constructivist approaches. It is argued that both frameworks neglect a pragmatic perspective as the most viable way for identifying and analysing UN. Such a pragmatic model is then developed on the basis of theories of cooperation, such as the Gricean maxims, relevance theory, and politeness. The emerging definition of UN treats a narrator as unreliable if he or she violates the cooperative principle without intending an implicature. This model is tested against three prototypical UNs: Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day , and Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart . These sample analyses yield a typology of UN: while pragmatic deviation is shown to be the intrinsic feature of the phenomenon, unreliable narrators vary according to their degree of intentionality. Finally, two recurring issues in the UN debate are briefly discussed: the existence of textual clues of UN, and the role of the reader in constructing unreliability
Cognition · Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) · Epistemology · Implicature · Linguistics · Narrative · Neglect · Perspective (graphical) · Phenomenon · Politeness · Pragmatics · Relevance (law) · Relevance theory · Sociology · Typology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Mathematics · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology
Fingierte Mündlichkeit in der Erzählkunst entwickelter Schriftkulturen
Sprache der Nähe — Sprache der Distanz. Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sprachtheorie und Sprachgeschichte
Frames, Preferences, and the Reading of Third-Person Narratives
Drift and the Evolution of English Style
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,64 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |