DONALD
ROSS
202B Wesbrook Hall, (612) 625-5585
rossj001@umn.edu
University of Minnesota
"Who's Talking? How Characters Become Narrators in Fiction,"
Modern Language Notes, 91 (1976), 1222-42.
A narrator is a speaking voice, so narration is, in a sense, related
to monologue. By looking initially at conventions of direct and
indirect quotation which present characters' words and thoughts in
formally similar ways, it is possible to tease out speaking voices in
third-person, unquoted narration. The notion of attributing narrated
passages to a specific, dramatized character provides a key to
determining whose personality is at center stage. Attributed
third-person narration allows the writer to shift from one character
to the next, and gives the impression which is often labeled
"omniscience." It is possible that this syntax is closer to how
thoughts occur in the mind, i.e., without an implied "I" before each
idea or observation.
University of Minnesota
URL: http://English.cla.umn.edu/FacultyProfiles/Ross/Abstract
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Ross
Last revised 15 November 1999
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