Most Interesting Narrators

[Dark Muse]

There are various threads about characters of books, favorite characters, most interesting characters, and even worst characters, but in stories which feature a first person narrator it can often be easy to overlook the narrator as a character within the story, and in some cases the narrator does in actually play a role of an active character, but rather just a teller of the story.

So this thread is dedicated to narrators, who are some of your favorite, or who do you consider to be some of the most interesting narrators?

I am currently reading The Book Thief which features Death as the actual narrator of the story, something which of course I can quite appreciate and rather enjoy. I find him to be a most engaging and charming narrator.

I loved the narrator from Notes from Underground. I found him to be intriguing, engaging, and even ironically charming.

and I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention Poe! He has a plethora of interesting narrators.

[NickAdams]

I would have to go with Molloy from Samuel Beckett's Molloy. Mark Twain wrote, in How to Tell a Story: "There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind--the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one. The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter." Whether it's American or not, is for another thread, but Molloy is a very humorous story, because of the narrator.

As I lay Dying is filled with interesting narrators, but I enjoyed Darl and Vardaman the most.

[DanielBenoit]

Definitley think Notes from the Underground to be a fascinating unconventional narrator.

Alex in A Clockwork Oragne is certainly a sinister narrator with a fascinating dialect.

Molly's soliloquey at the end of Ulysses has some of the most beautiful and elegant narration in all of literature.

[Dark Muse]

Oh yes, Alex is a good one, for there was something disturbingly charming about him at times, and the way he talked.

[DanielBenoit]

Oh yes, Alex is a good one, for there was something disturbingly charming about him at times, and the way he walked.

Oh yes, talk about ironically charming.

[JBI]

Humbert Humbert :p. Too obvious a choice, I know, but definitely the most brilliant first-person narrative voice I can think of.

[DanielBenoit]

^Oooo yes! Love his intellectual pretentiousness.

[JCamilo]

Machado de Assis Bentinho (From Dom Casmurro, the forefather of HH) and Bras Cubas, the dead guy who tell his story...
Borges in stories like Funes or Alleph...

[Adagio]

As I lay Dying is filled with interesting narrators, but I enjoyed Darl and Vardaman the most.
I'll second this! and add Jewel to the list.

Also, Humbert Humbert from Lolita.

[sixsmith]

Call me Ishmael?

[March Hare]

Although I'm just 100 pages into it, I suggest Oskar from The Tin Drum. As I read the narrative I believe what Oskar tells me he can do with his drum and voice. When I put the book down I think 'this guy's nuttier than a fruitcake.'
I enjoy an unreliable narrator.

The narrator of 'House of Asterion' by Borges.

[Scheherazade]

As I lay Dying is filled with interesting narrators, but I enjoyed Darl and Vardaman the most.
Humbert Humbert :p. Too obvious a choice, I know, but definitely the most brilliant first-person narrative voice I can think of.First two that come to my mind too.

Lovely Bones has an usual narrator too... Being dead and all.

And Englby is an excellent example how unreliable first person narrator can be.

[dfloyd]

Marlowe, Conrad's narator in Lord Jim and other Conrad novels.

[Dori]

Humbert Humbert :p. Too obvious a choice, I know, but definitely the most brilliant first-person narrative voice I can think of.

Quite so, quite so. :nod:

[Manchegan]

I can't quite remember how exactly the narrative structure worked, but Texaco has got to be told in the most interesting way I've ever seen.

The book is a report given to a city planner by a social worker, but most of the story is told by a impoverished Hatian woman with mystical undertones. She tells her dad's story first, which he had told her years before, then she tells her own life story, and in the end you aren't sure whether any of what she said her dad had said is accurate at all.

[bluosean]

The narrators in As I Lay Dying are interisting. Conrads books too almost always have extremely interisting narrators (The Secret Sharer, Youth etc.). Melvilles Bartleby is also very interisting.

[laymonite]

"Alice" (real name unknown, unless you crack the book's embedded code) in Richard Laymon's After Midnight.

[kelby_lake]

Humbert Humbert :p. Too obvious a choice, I know, but definitely the most brilliant first-person narrative voice I can think of.

I'd go with that. Maybe Nick Carraway too :)

[JBI]

I'd go with that. Maybe Nick Carraway too :)

Nick to me is problematic - I know not to trust Humbert, but to what degree do I know I can't trust Nick? I am sure in many places he isn't trustworthy, but the narrative itself relies on his "trustworthiness" to the point where Fitzgerald tried to seduce us by making Nick claim to be reliable and completely unbiased at the beginning of the novel.

[laymonite]

Fitzgerald...meh.

[laymonite]

To answer the question, again, the narrator from Slaughterhouse-Five.

[PeterL]

Rudolph Redwolf in The Aluminum Man

[laymonite]

Holden Caufield (sp?) from Catcher in the Rye. I love his snarky attitude.

[Dark Muse]

Oh yes, I love Holden, it just had been so long since I read the book I could not recall if it was indeed in the first person narrative.

[NickAdams]

Dante the poet narrating the journey of Dante the pilgrim.


I can't quite remember how exactly the narrative structure worked, but Texaco has got to be told in the most interesting way I've ever seen.

The book is a report given to a city planner by a social worker, but most of the story is told by a impoverished Hatian woman with mystical undertones. She tells her dad's story first, which he had told her years before, then she tells her own life story, and in the end you aren't sure whether any of what she said her dad had said is accurate at all.

I'll check this out. Thanks.:thumbs_up

[Barbarous]

Tristram Shandy, Humbert Humbert, Kinbote, Ismael, Proust's Marcel, The 5 narrators of the Waves by Woolf are also fantastic.

[bazarov]

The Underground Man.

[Three Sparrows]

Dream of a Ridiculous Man has an excellent narrator, in my opinion. Hm, I like Conrad's Marlow, too. Oh, and Gilbert in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall; not exactly a passive narrator, but more like semi-active. I love the narrator in Demons.
I have never read Canterbury Tales, or Arabian Nights, but I am surprised nobody mentioned their narrators-they seem conspicuous.
I could be dead wrong though, since I never read them.

[laymonite]

Dream of a Ridiculous Man has an excellent narrator, in my opinion. Hm, I like Conrad's Marlow, too. Oh, and Gilbert in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall; not exactly a passive narrator, but more like semi-active. I love the narrator in Demons.
I have never read Canterbury Tales, or Arabian Nights, but I am surprised nobody mentioned their narrators-they seem conspicuous.
I could be dead wrong though, since I never read them.

Yes, the miller from The Miller's Tale in Canterbury Tales is very enjoyable.

[kelby_lake]

Nick to me is problematic - I know not to trust Humbert, but to what degree do I know I can't trust Nick? I am sure in many places he isn't trustworthy, but the narrative itself relies on his "trustworthiness" to the point where Fitzgerald tried to seduce us by making Nick claim to be reliable and completely unbiased at the beginning of the novel.

He's practically in love with Gatsby. Plus there are parts in the Valley of Ashes, I think, that Nick couldn't have narrated because he wasn't there.

I also add Tom Wingfield.

[Emil Miller]

He's practically in love with Gatsby. Plus there are parts in the Valley of Ashes, I think, that Nick couldn't have narrated because he wasn't there.

I also add Tom Wingfield.

Kelby, you are fantasizing, there is no indication in the book that Nick Carraway is homosexual, he admired Gatsby as the opposite of the non-self made men who attended Gatsby's parties. Of course in today's 'enlightened' world we can speculate on every relationship, however platonic, as having a perverted connection, but in the real world people are still generally heterosexual.

[Manchegan]

[QUOTE=Three Sparrows;774852]Dream of a Ridiculous Man has an excellent narrator, in my opinion. QUOTE]

Seconded. That's easily the best short story I've ever read. I had no idea Dosteyevsky could be so...uplifting.

But now that I think of it...the nuerotic narrator of the Double is probably a more interesting narrator. I love how often he contradicts himself.

[Dark Muse]

Kelby, you are fantasizing, there is no indication in the book that Nick Carraway is homosexual, he admired Gatsby as the opposite of the non-self made men who attended Gatsby's parties. Of course in today's 'enlightened' world we can speculate on every relationship, however platonic, as having a perverted connection, but in the real world people are still generally heterosexual.

I think an interesting argument can be made for both cases, I can see where one might find Nick a closet homosexual in his inability to seem to truly establish a relationship with women, the failed attempts with (I forget her name) and his great fascination and admiration for Gatsby, the way in which he is "taken" in with him upon their first meeting.

But with that being said, I am inclined to agree with you here. I for one never truly felt that Nick was homosexual (even if a possibly case could be made for it) and I do think that people have a tendency to look for homosexuality in everything and to misinterpret intimate relationships between the same sex into meaning something that they do not. Part of it is perhaps that the sort of platonic intimacy that could once exists between two men, is lost for the most part in this day and age.

[billl]

I really enjoyed the narrator in James Kelman's How Late it Was, How Late. Scottish vernacular, which took some getting used to, and a non-stop internal monologue that tells a story and teaches everything the reader needs to know about the main character. Maybe the most I've ever felt myself disappear into a character.

[bluosean]

Holden Clawfield is very good. And Nick from the Great Gatsby. I agree with you guys on thoes. Also David Copperfield and other Dickens charaters such as Esther.

Nick did not love Gatsby. I don't think that this is what Kelby meant. A better word is obsessed. He was obsessed with Gatsbys dream as much as Gatsby. What he really loved was the idea. He loved what Gatsby stood for. He associated himself with Gatsby. He neglected his relationships because he was only interested in how the biggest drama would play out. He wasnt interested in anything small on the side. For the same reason he was able to overlook "trivial" details about Gatsby. They were simply unimportant not an integral part of the big mystery.

[JBI]

I think an interesting argument can be made for both cases, I can see where one might find Nick a closet homosexual in his inability to seem to truly establish a relationship with women, the failed attempts with (I forget her name) and his great fascination and admiration for Gatsby, the way in which he is "taken" in with him upon their first meeting.

But with that being said, I am inclined to agree with you here. I for one never truly felt that Nick was homosexual (even if a possibly case could be made for it) and I do think that people have a tendency to look for homosexuality in everything and to misinterpret intimate relationships between the same sex into meaning something that they do not. Part of it is perhaps that the sort of platonic intimacy that could once exists between two men, is lost for the most part in this day and age.

Who knows though - I have read critics reading into the fact that his girlfriend throughout the course of the plot is named "Jordan", a unisex name, and have also read much read into his previous engagement that is alluded to in the novel, but of which we know very little - though, it would appear cause for much of his actions - the scene in the elevator too, when Nick gets drunk has also been read as containing homoerotic imagery - but to what extent can one agree? It makes no difference in any way anyway.

[Dori]

The narrator of " The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by Dostoevsky.

[Dark Muse]

The narrator of " The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by Dostoevsky.

I will have to read that one, as I beleive it is included in my volume with Notes From Underground, the title sounds familair.

[kelby_lake]

Nick did not love Gatsby. I don't think that this is what Kelby meant. A better word is obsessed. He was obsessed with Gatsbys dream as much as Gatsby. What he really loved was the idea. He loved what Gatsby stood for. He associated himself with Gatsby. He neglected his relationships because he was only interested in how the biggest drama would play out. He wasnt interested in anything small on the side. For the same reason he was able to overlook "trivial" details about Gatsby. They were simply unimportant not an integral part of the big mystery.

I didn't mean that Nick wanted to get it on with Gatsby, but he practically worships him as a god. Look at Cecelia's narration in The Last Tycoon- they are very similar in that the narrator is completely besotted with the protagonist, but the protagonist doesn't care.

[mal4mac]

I loved the narrator from Notes from Underground. I found him to be intriguing, engaging, and even ironically charming.


I agree with that, although perhaps more ironic than charming :-) I'm reading Dostoevsky "Demons" at the moment, in the latest Penguin translation, and the narrator there is fascinating, and definitely ironically charming! One moment you think he's a God's eye view narrator, next you're given a tantalising hint that he's one of the "gang". (If it is a gang! Dostoevsky is a master of suspense...) I'm only fifty pages into this excellent book (and superb translation) and just one of the many intriguing questions is, "who is this narrator?" He hasn't been shown "in action" with the group

[Emil Miller]

Holden Clawfield is very good. And Nick from the Great Gatsby. I agree with you guys on thoes. Also David Copperfield and other Dickens charaters such as Esther.

Nick did not love Gatsby. I don't think that this is what Kelby meant. A better word is obsessed. He was obsessed with Gatsbys dream as much as Gatsby. What he really loved was the idea. He loved what Gatsby stood for. He associated himself with Gatsby. He neglected his relationships because he was only interested in how the biggest drama would play out. He wasnt interested in anything small on the side. For the same reason he was able to overlook "trivial" details about Gatsby. They were simply unimportant not an integral part of the big mystery.

I have read the book half-a-dozen times and never came to the conclusion that Nick was obsessed with Gatsby. He was certainly interested to be a pivotal point in the story he saw unfolding about him but he was too level headed not to see that old money would beat new money in the contest for Daisy Buchanan. Because of this, he felt a great sorrow for Gatsby and an admiration that he was prepared to pursue his dream no matter what the cost. He also realised that Gatsby's idealisation of Daisy was so extreme that it could never be sustained even if there were a possibilty of taking her from her husband.
When all's said and done though, I guess every reader will have their own ideas about the narrator of what is one of the greatest novels ever written.

[kelby_lake]

I'd say that Nick loves Gatsby's innocence in a strange way, because Nick slowly becomes disillusioned with the American Dream as the novel progresses.

[JBI]

I'd say that Nick loves Gatsby's innocence in a strange way, because Nick slowly becomes disillusioned with the American Dream as the novel progresses.

How can we read it that way, if the narrator is static? This is all reflection mind you, so how can we say the actual narrative voice is bending - we can only choose to look at the relationship between the speaker, and the actual character, and see where their ideas meet, and what has changed.

Critics, and high school teachers generally think that the moment Nick announces it is his birthday, it signifies a change into a more subjective view of the situation - because he involves himself - but in terms of the narrative, the narrator is pretty constant - he just chooses to deceive us in a way of justifying himself, I think.

[Drkshadow03]

How can we read it that way, if the narrator is static? This is all reflection mind you, so how can we say the actual narrative voice is bending - we can only choose to look at the relationship between the speaker, and the actual character, and see where their ideas meet, and what has changed.

Critics, and high school teachers generally think that the moment Nick announces it is his birthday, it signifies a change into a more subjective view of the situation - because he involves himself - but in terms of the narrative, the narrator is pretty constant - he just chooses to deceive us in a way of justifying himself, I think.

It's also important in all this to remember Nick actually finds Gatsby morally repugnant and says so in the narrative.

[JBI]

It's also important in all this to remember Nick actually finds Gatsby morally repugnant and says so in the narrative.

Yes, but what Nick says and thinks - it's impossible to really differentiate - he is unreliable, yet claims to not judge - so every time he makes a judgment, we know he was lying in the first sense, so his judgments themselves are always subject to scrutiny, as he is constantly bending the truth - the drunken scene, for instance, is even seen through a screen of alcohol, and the text itself seen through a screen of melancholy and disengagement - to what extent can we really say he is telling the truth - for all we know at the end, when he greets Tom after Gatsby's death, he is simply lying, and embraced him out of cowardice - there is nothing to really deny that implication - certainly I like, I think it is Harold Bloom's interpretation of Tom there buying jewelery for another mistress, but is Nick's embrasure really an act of epiphany, realizing they wouldn't change, or cowardice, as he decidedly did not take a sure enough side during the Gatsby incident, which lead to his death - the narrator, we must remember, is reflecting on the past with a sense of bitter contempt - he also tries to make himself more invisible and "morally superior", so to what extent can we say he isn't just bending the narrative?


In terms of him finding him morally repugnant, I believe the phrase is something like a thick cloud of dust covering him, making him filthy, yet he then goes on to redeem him by suggesting that, for the truth he holds in his dream, and the sincerity he has up until the last minute, he is redeemed from all the repugnant things he does to achieve his dream.

He also calls him later the "only one worth a damn" (I think that is how he phrased it) - so what can we make of that? Gatsby is the anti-Nick, because he knows what he wants, and he stays true to that until the end (it would seem), whereas Nick is in a moral limbo throughout the novel, refusing to get involved or to detach himself - he runs to New York to escape a failed engagement, shacks up with Jordan out of boredom, it would seem, and sort of floats by, through the "jazz age" sort of abandonment, meanwhile watching as the age itself collapses in front of his eyes.

[mayneverhave]

Yes, it appears "morally repugnant" is perhaps too strong a judgment. Without going into as much detail as JBI (which one would be hard pressed to do), I would read Nick's feelings towards Gatsby and the whole inebriated roaring 20s as essentially ambivalent. This is summed up in Nick's relationship with Jordan, one which he realizes is about as deep as a Michael Bay movie, but that he involves himself in anyway.

Especially given the novel's final lines, its hard to read Nick's judgments as harsh ones, with the essentially sympathetic effect of Gatsby's green light and the boats beating on into the past.