Emma and the free indirect style

According to Jane Austen expert, Professor John Mullan, Jane Austen invented this, although it seems not to have been immediately recognized as something new. Apparently this is a form of narration that combines the bias of the unreliable first person narrator, with the omniscience of the third person narrator.The reader is led to follow things from the protagonist's point of view, while remaining aware that this point of view is faulty.

John Mullan is quite an entertaining speaker. If you have two hours to kill, you could do worse than watch this debate on the merits of Jane Austen vs Emily Brontë.

Thanks very much for the youtube link, kev.

I read the article in the paper and it made me want to re-read Emma. I'm still not bothered about appreciating technique in novels, which is why Proust and James leave me cold.