Unreliable Narrators?

TheIT · Sep 15, 2006

I'm wondering whether I should put a "SPOILER ALERT" on this thread. Can anyone recommend any novels or short stories with unreliable narrators?

My main character in my fantasy WIP is turning out to be unreliable with respect to one major issue, but is reliable otherwise. I was wondering how other authors might handle similar situations.

Thanks in advance!

Rolling Thunder · Sep 15, 2006

I've been told I'm unreliable. Does that count?

jbal · Sep 15, 2006

ok----Spoiler Alert!!!----

The Catcher in the Rye is probably a good example of unreliable narrator (all the way through though).
In Dean Koontz's Life Expectancy, he switches to a different narrator to imply that the MC is dead when he's not. (and to cheesy effect IMO).
That's the first ones that come to mind, I'll see if I can think of some better ones.

alleycat · Sep 15, 2006

I've looked up a similar question before. Wiki has a listing for "Unreliable Narrator" with several dozen examples.

Hope that helps.

Marlowe · Sep 15, 2006

Nabakov does a lot of this sort of thing- probably the ultimate version is Pale Fire, but Pnin and Lolita are rife with it.

maestrowork · Sep 15, 2006

Most first-person novels have unreliable or semi-reliable narrators.

All 3rd POV narrators should be reliable.

TheIT · Sep 15, 2006

maestrowork said:
Most first-person novels have unreliable or semi-reliable narrators.

Could you expand on this? This is exactly the situation I'm running into in my first person POV WIP. My narrator has a blind spot, a particular problem which she blames everyone else for, but the problem is actually within her. In all other aspects she's reliable.

maestrowork · Sep 15, 2006

By nature, first person narrator is biased and can only observe or note something he or she knows. That makes the POV "incomplete" at best, and evasive/deceiving at worst.

When you have a "semi-reliable" narrator, his observation or conclusion might be impaired by his misunderstanding or lack of knowledge, etc. It doesn't mean he lies -- just that he doesn't always know. A first-person detective in a mystery novel, for example. Or a coming of age story in which the narrator is always questioning himself.

When you have an unreliable narrator, he may be withholding information from the readers, or he may even lie about things, or is very opinionated about certain issues (for example, if your narrator is a serial killer or a teenage delinquent). Basically, what it means is that the readers can never really trust the narrator to be always telling the truth.

Catcher in the Rye is a good example.

3rd person narrators ALWAYS tell the truth without bias. The characters might be lying, cheating, scheming, not knowing, but the narrator must not withhold information or lie.

zarch · Sep 15, 2006

an unreliable narrator

Montressor of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado."

Toothpaste · Sep 15, 2006

**Spoiler**

There's an Agatha Christie book where the narrator turns out to be the murderer. I think that's a pretty unreliable narrator.

RedWombat · Sep 15, 2006

The narrator of the recent "The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" is autistic, and thus there's a lot that the narrator reports but doesn't appear to understand, which the reader does.

It's definitely worth reading.

maestrowork · Sep 15, 2006

UrsulaV said:
The narrator of the recent "The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" is autistic, and thus there's a lot that the narrator reports but doesn't appear to understand, which the reader does.

It's challenging but satisfying to create something like that, when the narrator is clueless, while the readers get it.

blacbird · Sep 15, 2006

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Little Big Man, Thomas Berger

caw.

batgirl · Sep 15, 2006

The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie?

Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears, has three unreliable narrators - each first person.
-Barbara

LeeFlower · Sep 15, 2006

Fight Club.

Huckleberry Finn is often cited as an unreliable narrator as well, but it seems to me that most child-narrators are.

maestrowork · Sep 15, 2006

A Painted House by John Grisham. The narrator is a 7yo boy who lies.

The Pacific Between by *ahem* moi. The narrator is semi-reliable.

blacbird · Sep 15, 2006

As long as Ray brings it up, who here is actually trying, consciously, to work with such a technique? I confess I am. It intrigues the bejesus out of me. Most of my stuff is done with third-person limited POV (and I think I'm pretty sensitive to and careful about POV in general), but I've become interested in using a non-autobiographical narrative character in first-person, and he's not at all reliable. He's a 19th-Century con artist who is so accustomed to lying as part of his profession that he often fools even himself. It's being kind of fun.

Especially since, like all the other stuff I do, it has no conceivable market, and isn't likely ever to be submitted anywhere, and therefore frees me to do whatever I damn well please.

caw.

aadams73 · Sep 16, 2006

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver--all of the narrators are unreliable or semi reliable

Vincent · Sep 16, 2006

Yeah blacbird, I've experimented with unreliable narrator once or twice, but only in short stories.

Zolah · Sep 16, 2006

batgirl said:
The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie?
-Barbara

No! It's 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'! Wow - this is the first time that I've ever known something you didn't, B. Does this mean I'm a grown-up now?

ORION · Sep 16, 2006

A new YA that is coming out soon by Jacquelyn Mitchard is called "Now you see her" (harper collins) I read an ARC and it's a great example of an unreliable narrator.
I suggest it would be a good read as an example of how it is done well...

Neeli · Sep 16, 2006

maestrowork said:
All 3rd POV narrators should be reliable.

I disagree. If you have tight 3rd person POV, you are showing everything from that person's POV--they ARE the narrator but in 3rd person. They are only as honest to the reader as they are to themselves--which can be deceiving.

For Example: Your MC might think she is a spectacular writer who is writing a best-selling novel, but she is hopelessly deluded. Your reader might understand from what other characters say (in dialog or email for example) or from the setting (there are 3000 rejection slips tacked to her wall) that MC is not as good as she thinks.

The point is your narrator never LIES, but it is not necessarily the truth--therefore she is unreliable.

I haven't read George RR Martin's "Game of Thrones" but as I understand it, the "truth" is different from everyone's point of view. I LOVE that kind of writing.

maestrowork · Sep 16, 2006

No. 3rd person narrator is separate from the character. The narrator might not be "visible" and maybe this phantom creature sitting on the MC's shoulders, but the narrator is NOT the character. The readers might not trust the character as reported, but the readers can always trust the narrator to report truthfully.

In your example, the narrator reports what the other characters say about the character or mention the 3000 rejection slips. The narrator is NOT biased, in that the narrator does not say, "MC is a lousy writer" or "MC is a great writer" because that would be narrative intrusion. But the narrator will say, "MC has 3000 rejection slips tagged on her walls" or "MC thinks she's a great writer."

As opposed to an unreliable narrator: "I am a damn good writer and I only got two rejections so far." The narrator won't tell you that she has 3000 rejection slips on the wall. She's not only delusional, she's also not very truthful.

That's the difference.

Selcaby · Sep 16, 2006

Zolah said:
No! It's 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'! Wow - this is the first time that I've ever known something you didn't, B. Does this mean I'm a grown-up now?

Endless Night does it too. Seems Agatha Christie liked it.

Vomaxx · Sep 16, 2006

The Good Soldier, by Ford M. Ford

Unreliable Narrators?

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Still around

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GOML.

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

Runs With Scissors

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Writting broad

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A Work in Progress

Cheers

Over the hills and far away

Sailed away years ago

The Khatun

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