An unreliable narrator is a storytelling voice whose account cannot be accepted without question. This lesson introduces the concept, explains how it affects a reader’s interpretation, and explores how a story can reveal—or withhold—the narrator’s lack of credibility.
Unreliable narration occurs when a narrator’s credibility is compromised. The narrator may lie, conceal important information, misunderstand events, or interpret them in a distorted way. The reader must compare the narrator’s account with clues elsewhere in the work and decide how much to trust it.
All flashcards
Unreliable narration
Narration whose credibility, account, or interpretation is compromised, prompting readers to assess it rather than accept it automatically.
Framed revelation
A frame story presents the narrator as a character and supplies clues about their credibility.
Bonding unreliability
A narrator’s limitations can help readers share an understanding that the narrator lacks.
Riggan’s narrator types
Four patterns of unreliable first-person narration: pícaro, clown, madman, and naïf.
Implied author’s norms
The values and standards readers infer from a work as a whole.
Quiz questions
According to Wayne C. Booth, what makes a narrator unreliable?Answer: The narrator’s speech or actions conflict with the work’s norms.
Which feature most characteristically defines Riggan’s clown narrator?Answer: Comic ambiguity and reversals that complicate a statement’s apparent meaning.
In Peter J. Rabinowitz’s account, who makes up the ideal narrative audience?Answer: An audience that accepts the narrator’s statements without critical questioning.
Which set names Ansgar Nünning’s three broad categories of signals for unreliability?Answer: Intratextual, extratextual, and literary-competence signals.
How does Greta Olson distinguish fallibility from untrustworthiness?Answer: Fallibility involves being mistaken or limited; untrustworthiness more seriously compromises the account.