‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’ What connections can we make in the authorial style?

The Unreliable Narrator A term first coined in 1961 by Wayne Booth (in his book ‘The Rhetoric of Fiction’) It challenges the credibility (the point of view) of the narrator – NOT the author. How might we question the credibility of the narrator? Wayne Booth suggested 3 ways? Psychological instability. Powerful bias. A simple lack of knowledge. List books you have encountered that fall into any of the above categories…

The Unreliable Narrator Wayne Booth – University of Chicago ‘The Rhetoric of Fiction’ (1961) ‘A Rhetoric of Irony’ (1974)

Booth argues that all narrative is a form of rhetoric, that is, an argument on the part of author in defense of his or her "various commitments, secret or overt [that] determine our response to the work". The Rhetoric of Fiction 71.narrativerhetoric

The speaker in narrative is the author or, more specifically, the implied author, which Booth also calls an author's "second self" who "chooses, consciously or unconsciously, what we read; we infer him as an ideal, literary, created version of the real man; he is the sum of his own choices“ The Rhetoric of Fiction implied author

Booth argued that it is impossible to talk about a text without talking about an author. The existence of the text implies the existence of an author. Authors often make their own contributions in their works, and they also include those of narrators, whether reliable, unreliable, partial or impartial. Booth notes the important differences among these contributors, however, pointing out that the author is distinct from the narrator of the text.narrator He uses the examples of stories with an unreliable narrator to prove this point, observing that, in these stories, the whole point of the story is lost if one confuses narrator and author. unreliable narrator

“The author is dead?” OLD STYLE CRITICISM Old fashioned biographical criticism. NEW CRITICS We can only talk about what the text says. MODERN CRITICISM The ‘eradication’ of an authorial presence. How might this affect our reading of ‘Wuthering Heights’?

Our own reading. At some point when we are reading we realise that the narrator’s interpretation of the events cannot be fully trusted and will begin to form their own opinions about the events and motivations within the story. It can put us off reading. Many stories depend on the willing suspension of disbelief, and readers can be pulled out of the story when they realise the narrator cannot be trusted.

There is a fine line between distrusting the narrator and distrusting the writer. When successful the results can be powerful and fascinating. Some examples of books with unreliable narrators include: To Kill a Mockingbird – reason for unreliable narrator? Child narrator One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - ? Dementia A Clockwork Orange - ? Skewed societal values The Catcher in the Rye - ? Narrator personality flaws Fight Club - ? Multiple personality disorder

THE GREAT GATSBY The unreliable narrator is Nick, who hero worships Gatsby to the point he is blind to his faults.

Bad unreliable Narrators. Good unreliable Narrators.

Kazuo Ishiguro The unfolding of weird logic makes his novels challenging. We rely upon the memory of the narrator. All our memories have faults, we ignore things, we deny or distort painful reminders from the past. “When I write, I do like to narrate from that fairly murky inner point, not from some kind of external camera’s eye point.” KI

As with his other works ‘Never Let Me Go’ should be read as an exploration of the inward experience of consciousness. He wants us to be not quite sure what reality is.

Kazuo Ishiguro Who is he?