The question I have for you all is what novel do you feel utilizes the most interesting/effective/experimental point of view, and what do you believe is the effect that narrative point of view invokes?
My answer would be Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" because Woolf's development of magnetized narration displays an intimacy between the characters, particularly Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. They share the same sentiments, and at times even finish one another thoughts.
The first book that comes to mind is Moby Dick. I found it very interesting how Melville sets up his narrator as an unreliable one (nothing unique now, I know). Even the first line establishes this. "Call me Ishmael." Not, "My name is Ishmael." This odd statement alone seem odd from the start.
I also liked how he used a narrator that didn't have much bearing on the actual plot of the book.
Each segment of The Sound and the Fury utilizes a different point-of-view; each has absolutely astounding implications on the narrative.
The first is narrated by someone mentally challenged and creates an uneasy feeling of unreliability.
The second is told from the point-of-view of someone who is obsessed with one person in his life.
The third is from the point-of-view of a highly prejudiced and angry narrator.
And the fourth wraps everything up with an omniscient third-person.
Mindboggling use of point-of-view in this one.
Last edited by Jeremydav; 12-21-2010 at 07:31 PM.
'Slaughterhouse-5' has an interesting narrative POV, it's completely non-chronological.
Another Vonnegut novel, 'Galapagos', uses the same non-linear structure (though that plot is a bit more ordered), and the perspective from which it's told is a ghost reflecting back millions of years into the past, which was the late twentieth century..
'Catch-22' is also non-linear, and interesting because the POV shifts every chapter and there are about 20 or so characters that get their own chapter.
Though my favorite is 'Sophie's World', a children book/novel on philosophy, where the characters in the book realize they're in a book and try to escape from it.
The Sound and the Fury, Catch-22, and Slaughterhouse-5 are all very good examples (probably better than Moby Dick). I haven't read Sophie's World.
I think Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man has a beautiful perspective, as it evolves with the protagonist; and as it does so, this vision of the world and one's understanding of it gradually evolves from an idealization to one's quest for an identity in the world.
Cosmocomics is a wonderful work, too. The narrator stays the same, but the forms in which he manifests himself are always changing.
Portrait is a really great example, in fact any Joyce novel is a good example of narrative point of view. The thing about this one particular novel is that it only incorporates 3rd person limited, insight being into Stephan's head, with a lot of free indirect discourse. All that is impressive, and makes for a wonderful story, but Ulysses in my opinion displays a lot more experimentation into narrative point of view. It had 3rd person limited, free indirect discourse, interior monologue, magnetized narration, and even some 4th estate narration. To bad the novel is about nothing hahaha (still a great book though)Originally Posted by IceM
the master of point of view is willaim faulkner.
as stated above "sound and the fury" is an excellent example. but the same can be said for almost every one of his books.
i think the best is "absolom absolom".
Faulkner tells the story through the eyes of 4 people, all of a different generation or background. the story is told somewhat haphazardly with many gaps which are not filled in until later in the book. the facts are viewed through the eyes of the different story tellers with parts further filtered through stories told to them by others. all of this makes an engrossing tale all the more fascinating. at the end we have a picture of the family that is part history and part saga.
the snopes trilogy also reflects his genius at work. each novel does it uniquely different with the one character from whom you never get a personal perspective is flem snopes himself. everything you learn about him is based on the perspective of others.
it makes him one of the most interesting characters of all.
Faulkner dealt with point of view more creatively than anyone. it is what brings meaning to his novels.
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell is vastly underappreciated. the first book 'Justine' if one of my top 10 favorite novels. It was influenced by relativity although it's not sci-fi but sort or paralactic. the four books are each from a different perspective- although this really isn't true, or should i say is an exceptional statement- and introduce complicated nuances of the same events, even contradictions
but 'To the Lighthouse' is also one of my top 10.
"Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerney was one novel I thought that had an interesting point of view by telling the piece entirely in second-person POV, giving the reader the impression that you are the main character. Other novels use this POV, but "Bright Lights, Big City" was one example of a work that did it the best.
"We look at the world, at governments, across the spectrum, some with more freedom, some with less. And we observe that the more repressive the State is, the closer life under it resembles Death. If dying is deliverance into a condition of total non-freedom, then the State tends, in the limit, to Death. The only way to address the problem of the State is with counter-Death, also known as Chemistry." -- Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day
Although I'm quite the fan of Faulkner, I have to respectfully disagree with your claim. Many of the authors (Hemingway, Joyce, Woolf) writing a few years before Faulkner really got some recognition were already working with many of the perspectives that are found in works like "The Sound and the Fury." Joyce in particular utilized many of the techniques that Faulkner includes in his works, the difference is that Faulkner embeds them into more of a plot, rather than Joyce, who generally doesn't incorporate a heavy plot in his works. I think Faulkner takes what Joyce started and manipulates it to best fit his style of writing. In a way Faulkner is a stylistic southerner hahaha
I like how Doyle writes Sherlock Holmes from the point of Watson. Because there is a certain mystery surrounding Holmes it keeps you curious about his character and you gradually learn a little bit more about how his mind works instead of directly seeing his process of thought.
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