Poetics: A General Theory of Literary Forms

Author: David Fontaine (France), translated by Chen Jing
Translator: Chen Jing / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
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2.3 Narrative Voice After discussing the relationship between the work and the virtual world it creates, we now turn to the relationship formed between the discourse in the novel and the person speaking these words. The issue of narrative voice (voixnarrativ) or, in other words, the issue of literary expression, is both complex and interesting, as they are central to the narrative structure. The indispensable independence of the narrative act The narrator must carefully distinguish himself from the true author of the text, who is never present in the text. This is the phenomenon metaphorically illustrated by Barthes' vivid phrase "the death of the author." The narrator is merely a virtual official act sought by the structure of the text, occupying the same position as the world described in the text. Just as one can be temporarily condensed into their function and depicted as an agent, the narrator is merely the name given to the role of the storyteller. Moreover, the act of storytelling clearly separates the author from the narrator. Now, in narrative language, it is important to study the traces and trajectory of this fictional role: the narrative time, the narrative level, and the "person" in the oral sense.
Narrative Time In the narrative text, the entire story is naturally set according to the time assumed in the narration, which can only be expressed through the tense of the verbs, while the location is mostly indeterminate. Therefore, what primarily connects the story time with the time is the chronological relationship, i.e., the sequential relationship:
- Late narration (narrationult6rieure) is clearly the most common. The story is told smoothly—or perhaps even immediately—after the event. The past tense is sufficient for late narration, especially the simple past or the past tense. This tense is considered the preferred tense for narrative texts by Barthes, as it can express the irreversibility of sequence. ① This tense no longer signifies a precise past meaning but only the concept of "long ago," without a specific year or date. However, the story time may later merge with the narrative time, with the purpose of using the present tense to enhance realism. At the end of Madame Bovary, the pharmacist Homais "has just received the Order of Honor." Especially, even in the middle of the story, although it requires taking time to narrate, the narrative often does not consider the continuity of time: for example, at the ball held by the Marchioness de Rochefide in The Saracen Woman.
- Early narration (narrationant6rieure) is very rare, appearing only in the second story (which is integrated into the main story), often in the form of prophecies or divinations. In this capacity, they often play a decisive role in the plot, demonstrating the power of the narrative text. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the prophecy of the seer sets the tragedy in motion, accelerating its development as he attempts to change its outcome. Like the discourse being told, this also shows that the narrative is an act.
- Simultaneous narration (narrationsimultan6e) is completely synchronized with the story it narrates, and their duration is perfectly aligned. This alignment makes the already unstable narration oscillate, sometimes transparently observing the unfolding story with an anonymous gaze [this is seen in the early works of Alain Robbe-Grillet, where objectivism prevails], and then returning to the narration, such as in some of Beckett's narratives, where storytelling becomes a negligible means.
- Interpolated narration (narrationinterealre) can produce flexible and diverse effects, as it follows each paragraph of the text with immediate post-event summaries. In reality, it only appears in two forms with a definite recipient: private diaries and letters, as well as literary genres that imitate these forms. Such narrative acts inevitably alter the story. In the novel The Confession of a Lecherous Old Man by the Japanese novelist Tanizaki, the private diary of a university professor until his retirement and his wife's diary are alternately depicted, with each narrator assuming the other will read their diary: through this feigned love relationship and the trust it implies, they engage in a ruthless struggle and attempt to manipulate each other.
Narrative Level The concept of "interpolated narration" (recitenchasse) used by Todorov has intuitive advantages, but it overlooks the distinction between the level of the storyteller and the story being told. Because the narrative act never exists on the same level as the story it narrates, it stands outside the world it describes, aiming for precise storytelling. For this reason, the narrative act within narration is called "extra-diegetic," while the character who tells a true story within the story (at the second level) is called "intra-diegetic." The narrator of the Marquise de la Mole, for example, tells her story at the same time as she addresses an extra-diegetic recipient, the potential reader of all narrators. This demonstrates the following situation: "But, oh God, author, can you tell me where they went? But, oh God, reader, can you tell me if people know where?" ① Here, the narrator confuses the author (who is not necessarily Diderot) and the recipient in the current situation with the potential reader, and the true reader would not think it is himself.
The Problem of Person "Third-person narration," "first-person narration," these common expressions are unsatisfactory, because even in a narrative where the protagonist is "he," the narrator "I" is always potentially present, as the narrative is characterized by a communicative situation ("I" am telling something to a potential "you"). As long as he deems it appropriate, he can express himself through the author's speech act (Jacques the Fatalist), without calling it "first-person narration." These expressions in fact clumsily address the main difference between the following two types of narrative: In one type, the narrator exists simultaneously as a character in the story, thus aligning with the world described [homodiegetic]; in the other, he is not a character in the story and normally (without metaphor) exists outside the described world [heterodiegetic]. The narrator in Jacques the Fatalist is heterodiegetic, because the world he narrates is completely malleable, depending on the sincerity of the storyteller. Conversely, the narrator's existence as a character in the story has different levels: for example, in Faulkner's novel A Rose for Emily, the entire population of Jefferson watches an unknown tragedy unfold for a wealthy, elderly spinster. This is a collective, anonymous narrator. The famous Dr. Watson is a typical positioned narrator, and the protagonist himself is also a narrator, as in La Recherche.