Peculiar narrative technique

[jenniferbrown]

First of all - hello everyone, I'm Jennifer and I just joined this nice community :)

Some time ago, in my literature classes, I came across an excerpt from a book that had this 'peculiar' narrative technique. This technique had a name and I would be very grateful if somebody could help me out with this.

The thing was that the narrator (the author himself), in some parts of the book addressed the reader directly and 'confessed' his plans for the rest of the book. So, for example, the text would look something like this:

"At this time, I realized that the protagonist wast getting a little boring so I decided to liven things up for him with a gorgeous woman, whom he met at the local pub. Her name was Natasha. She was 20 years old.." etc.etc. - so basically this kind of 'writer's confession' followed up by normal, third-person narrative.

It got me puzzled and I'd really like to read something written like that, but I simply can't remember the term for this kind of narrative.

Do you know who used to write like that or in a similar way? I would be grateful for any names or titles :) [I think the excerpt was from a XXth C. novel, probably modernism, but I can't vouch for that].

And if you ever came across a book that was written in a 'peculiar', unique or 'experimental' way and you enjoyed it -feel free to share it here so others may have a look at it :)

[ladderandbucket]

First of all - hello everyone, I'm Jennifer and I just joined this nice community :)

Some time ago, in my literature classes, I came across an excerpt from a book that had this 'peculiar' narrative technique. This technique had a name and I would be very grateful if somebody could help me out with this.

The thing was that the narrator (the author himself), in some parts of the book addressed the reader directly and 'confessed' his plans for the rest of the book. So, for example, the text would look something like this:

"At this time, I realized that the protagonist wast getting a little boring so I decided to liven things up for him with a gorgeous woman, whom he met at the local pub. Her name was Natasha. She was 20 years old.." etc.etc. - so basically this kind of 'writer's confession' followed up by normal, third-person narrative.

It got me puzzled and I'd really like to read something written like that, but I simply can't remember the term for this kind of narrative.

Do you know who used to write like that or in a similar way? I would be grateful for any names or titles :) [I think the excerpt was from a XXth C. novel, probably modernism, but I can't vouch for that].

And if you ever came across a book that was written in a 'peculiar', unique or 'experimental' way and you enjoyed it -feel free to share it here so others may have a look at it :)

I think you are talking about an 'intrusive narrator' or 'intrusive author'. Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being would be a good example.

[Lykren]

I don't remember very well, but that sounds like something out of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.

[Dreamwoven]

One style that bothers me is when the author doesn't present the plot until half way through and perhaps not even then. Instead you get a chapter on one person (say John Doe) and then completely separately you get the next chapter on Jane Smith, totally un-related to each other, perhaps even in different towns. There can be several chapters like these comprising half the book. Then the author begins to tie them together.

All this is clever-clever and perhaps in vogue, but irritating, especially for older readers whose short-term memory is not so good. I find I have to keep going back to earlier chapters to re-read them in the light of new information. And have ended up leaving slips of paper at the start of each chapter with the name of the character on it.

[YesNo]

The thing was that the narrator (the author himself), in some parts of the book addressed the reader directly and 'confessed' his plans for the rest of the book. So, for example, the text would look something like this:

"At this time, I realized that the protagonist wast getting a little boring so I decided to liven things up for him with a gorgeous woman, whom he met at the local pub. Her name was Natasha. She was 20 years old.." etc.etc. - so basically this kind of 'writer's confession' followed up by normal, third-person narrative.

It got me puzzled and I'd really like to read something written like that, but I simply can't remember the term for this kind of narrative.


I wonder if the technique has a name. It seems like a way to use "surprise": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surprise_factor.

Your description immediately reminded me of the narrator in the movie "George of the Jungle". When George was shot by his male rival, the narrator broke with a line something like this: "Ok, kiddies, let's review the facts. George is the good guy. He is not going to die." Also in that movie the narrator gets in an argument with some of the characters who don't like the way he is narrating what is happening to them.

[jenniferbrown]

Thank you all for your answers, I'm going to check all the books/movies mentioned - it looks like it is going to be intrusive narrator after all :) - the Internet sources say that it was predominately used by modernism/postmodernism writers, so Vonnegut and his contemporaries should be a match.

By the way - another interesting technique purportedly used by postmodernism writers was leaving out the whole chapters and supplanting them with the author's commentary. So the book would go something like that: Chapters 5 ends in a normal way, but chapter 6 consists only of a short commentary saying :" Here I wanted to describe the protagonist's relationship with his father, but I don't feel like doing it anyway, so I'm just skipping this chapter and let's move to chapter 7 where..." - It looks basically the same as intrusive narrator, but it entails 'removal' of whole parts of the book on a whim :) Once again, it's just the theory I remember from classes - I'm going to investigate it thoroughly and share my findings with you guys.

Thank you very much again, thanks to you I know where I should start looking :)

[Eiseabhal]

You might check a little CS Forester novel called "Plain Murder"