Course Reflection

In the beginning of this course when we discussed the basics of unreliable narration and the differences between the author and the narrator, I was interested by the concept that unreliable narration is like seeing the smoke, but not paying attention to the fire — the narrator is complicit in setting the fire; he or she is like the criminal writing the police report. These analogies were what made me start thinking more critically about how unreliable narration can change the affect of a work.

My friend saw me readings A Pale View of Hills and repeatedly would tell me, “I can’t wait for you to get to the surprise,” and basically breathed down my neck while I was reading the novel. With that in mind, and the novel being in context of a class titled “Unreliable Narration,” I was so skeptical while reading. I kept thinking there was some huge twist to Etsuko’s character that I was missing. I was suspicious of her character, and as the book continued I only got more suspicious. I saw the smoke, and I knew Etusko was the fire, but where was the fire? Etsuko was the classic example of the criminal writing the police report. It wasn’t until the narration style switch and the “we” that I understood the source of the smoke — then all the subsequent events finally were so clear. A Pale View of Hills was the first novel I read so critically at every step of the way — but now I like reading like that. Now I realize that in almost every novel there is the potential for a sort of unreliable narration that changes the course of the work.

I also think the difference in narrator and author is an interesting distinction. I still grapple with how much the author affects the narrator, and how separate the two are sometimes. If you read more about Ishiguro’s history, his novel becomes extremely relevant to himself. Same for when we discussed Conrad’s Heart of Darkness — there are ostensibly ties and experiences from the author that play directly into their novels, and often their narrators. While I understand the two actors are not the same, I still find author’s lived experiences very interesting and influential to their works. This class made me think critically and in a new way about narration's importance and influence.

-Alexa