Different Types of Narration Used by Writers
Narration. Types of Narration
Narration is the way authors relate events to readers. Novelists use different way of telling their stories: they use different characters to tell the stories (narrators) and present the events from different ‘angles’ (different points of view).
First – person narrator (the story is told by an ‘I’), who may be the main character in the novel or a minor character in the novel, an observer of events that happen to others.
Third – person narrator
In the novels written in the 3rd person, two main points of view are normally used: the omniscient point of view and the limited point of view.
The omniscient point of view means that the narrator knows everything about the events and the characters and knows all their thoughts and motives. an intrusive narrator – explicitly tells the reader things, commenting ob the characters. an objective narrator – simply shows things, without commenting or explaining: he is more like the camera.
The limited point of view means that, although the narrator tells the story in the 3rd, he confines himself to the impressions and feelings of one character in the novel: he presents only one point of view of events. The effect of this can be similar to that created by the 1st person narrator.
Multiple narrators and multiple points of view
Very often authors (especially modern ones) experiment with the various effects produced by different narrators and point of view. This reflects typically the twentieth century concerns : the complex nature of reality the decline of belief an obstacle truth fascinating with psychological analysis a belief in the importance of individual experience and opinion.
Narrator involvement in what is narrated. Either the narrator has experienced that which he is narrating, in this case he is homodiegetic, or he has not in the case he is heterodiegetic. If his experience is personal, the degree of his involvement may vary. Perhaps, he has only seen things from
Narration is the way authors relate events to readers. Novelists use different way of telling their stories: they use different characters to tell the stories (narrators) and present the events from different ‘angles’ (different points of view).
First – person narrator (the story is told by an ‘I’), who may be the main character in the novel or a minor character in the novel, an observer of events that happen to others.
Third – person narrator
In the novels written in the 3rd person, two main points of view are normally used: the omniscient point of view and the limited point of view.
The omniscient point of view means that the narrator knows everything about the events and the characters and knows all their thoughts and motives. an intrusive narrator – explicitly tells the reader things, commenting ob the characters. an objective narrator – simply shows things, without commenting or explaining: he is more like the camera.
The limited point of view means that, although the narrator tells the story in the 3rd, he confines himself to the impressions and feelings of one character in the novel: he presents only one point of view of events. The effect of this can be similar to that created by the 1st person narrator.
Multiple narrators and multiple points of view
Very often authors (especially modern ones) experiment with the various effects produced by different narrators and point of view. This reflects typically the twentieth century concerns : the complex nature of reality the decline of belief an obstacle truth fascinating with psychological analysis a belief in the importance of individual experience and opinion.
Narrator involvement in what is narrated. Either the narrator has experienced that which he is narrating, in this case he is homodiegetic, or he has not in the case he is heterodiegetic. If his experience is personal, the degree of his involvement may vary. Perhaps, he has only seen things from