Narratorial memory in the autodiegetic (first‐person) retrospective novel

Abstract

Summary It has been argued that the autodiegetic (first‐person) retrospective narrator is dependent on memory and so his or her vantage point is distant from the activities of the experiencing self ‐ more distant than is, say, the vantage point of the heterodiegetic (third‐person omniscient) narrator from the activities of the protagonist. In explanation, we are told that the heterodiegetic narrator is not dependent on memory. Here there are two claims for investigation. The first concerns the role of narratorial memory in the autodiegetic retrospective novel. I argue that the assumptions of this claim are based upon a model of real‐life memory and that this is an inappropriate model. Rather, narratorial memory should be thought of as an epistemological claim to revelation of the protagonist's mind. Indeed, narratorial “memory” is a fictional convention for disguising narratorial inventiveness. The second claim is a comparative one about the autodiegetic retrospective narrator and the heterodiegetic narra...