The Unreliable Narrator as a Precedent to the Post-Truth Era: Subjective Personal Memory in the Literary Autobiographies of Eudora Welty and Tom Robbins

Dorotka Bachratá

doi:10.31178/ubr.9.2.8

Abstract

Trying to find the roots of the current post-truth era, one possible path of origin presents itself when it comes to the literary tradition: the unreliable narrator. How does this phenomenon project itself in such a particular place between fact and fiction, occupied solely by literary autobiographies? Eudora Welty and Tom Robbins, two prominent 20th century literary personas, provide a detailed account of their journey towards self-realization in two connected, yet very different ways. Their memoir and autobiography provides a detailed map of this journey. We can hence speak of positive trauma when it comes to recollection of successful literary careers. Imagination, memory and choice all play an important part in this unique narratives’ creative process. Understanding the relationships between these elements provides even more understanding when it comes to unreliability and our own perception of reality. What are the specific details of memory the authors put down on paper in order to make sense of their creative lives? How do we spot their importance? What role does memory play in the creative process of these authors? How do they approach imagination? What is their relationship with their own narrators and protagonists, a.k.a. themselves? Can we trust it? Dare we trust it? And if so, how do we do it as readers? All these questions are to be addressed and discussed in the following article.

Highlights

Since the beginning of the new millennium, autobiography has gone under the umbrella term “life writing” (Schmidt 47) in order to encompass a variety of genres and works that fall under this broad category
Both Eudora Welty and Tom Robbins have written about their lives with the goal of making sense of their creative journey towards writerhood
Autobiographies, manifest commentaries on all critical levels towards imaginary and real worlds: social, historical, psychological, poetic, political, personal, economical, etc. They both use the referential pact in a specific way, which will prove to be key to an understanding of the principles behind the element of the unreliable narrator, within the context of both post-truth, as well as autobiography

Summary

Introduction

Since the beginning of the new millennium, autobiography has gone under the umbrella term “life writing” (Schmidt 47) in order to encompass a variety of genres and works that fall under this broad category. They both use the referential pact in a specific way, which will prove to be key to an understanding of the principles behind the element of the unreliable narrator, within the context of both post-truth, as well as autobiography.

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Conclusion