Re: Unreliable Narrators

Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Mon, 14 Jun 1999 08:39:33 +0100 

    It appears that the term 'unreliable narrator' is one
    that all self-respecting American literateurs use with 
    comfortable familiarity.  It keeps returning to this 
    list like a familiar exam topic that all candidates 
    would be wise to master.  It's not so familiar to me.

    I'd have thought that all first person narratives are,
    by their nature, idiosyncratic, subjective & thereby 
    'unreliable'.  We've had everything from Huck to 
    Nick Carroway to the Larry of Razor's Edge cited 
    as examples.

    I'd be more interested to hear examples of what 
    the experts regard as a 'reliable' narrator.

    Scottie B.