Re: unreliable narration in cinema--three responses

From: *Henry M. Taylor* <[email protected]>


Quite a lot of work on unreliable narration in literature and film has been
done in English Studies programs by German scholars. Here's a list of
references, copied from this site:

Allrath, G. (1998): »'But why will you say that I am mad?' Textuelle
Signale für die Ermittlung von unreliable narration«. In Unreliable
Narration: Studien sur Theorie und Praxis unglaubwürdigen Erzählens in der
englischsprachigen Erzähllitteratur. A. Nünning, C. Surkamp and B. Zerweck
(red.). Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier: 59-80.

Black, D. A. (1986): »Genette and film. Narrative level in the fiction
cinema.« In Wide Angle 8 3/4: 19-26.

Booth, W. C. (1991 [1961/83]): The Rhetoric of Fiction. London et. al.:
Penguin Books. Bordwell, D. (1985): Narration in the fiction film. Madison,
Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. Busch, D. (1998): »'Unreliable
Narration' aus narratologischer Sicht: Bausteinefür ein erzähltheoretisches
Analyseraster«. In Unreliable Narration: Studien zur Theorie und Praxis
unglaubwürdigen Erzählens in der englischsprachigen Erzähllitteratur. A.
Nünning, C. Surkamp and B. Zerweck (red.). Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag
Trier: 41-58.

Chatman, S. (1978): Story and Discourse. Narrative Structure in Fiction and
Film. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.

Chatman, S. (1990): Coming to Terms. The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction
and Film. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.

Cohn, D. (2000): »Discordant Narration.« In Style 34 2: 307-316.

Currie, G. (1997): Image and mind film, philosophy and cognitive science.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

FERENZ, VOLKER (2008): Don’t Believe His Lies. The Unreliable Narrator in
Contemporary American Cinema. Trier: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.

Fludernik, M. (1999): »Defining (In)sanity: The Narrator of The Yellow
Wallpaper and the Question of Unrelability«. In Grenzüberschreitungen:
Narratologien im Kontext/Transcending Boundaries: Narratology in Context.
W. Grünzweig and A. Solbach (red.). Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag: 75-95.

Hansen, P. K. (2005): »When Facts Become Fiction: On Extra-Textual
Unreliable Narration«. In Fact and Fiction in Narrative: An
Interdisciplinary Approach. L.-Å. Skalin (red.). Örebro: Örebro University:
283-307.

Hansen, P. K. (2007): »Reconsidering the Unreliable Narrator.« In Semiotica
165 (1/4): 227-246. Helbig, J. (red.) (2006): 'Camera doesn't lie':
Spielarten erzählerischer Unzuverlässigkeit im Film. Focal Point. Trier:
WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.

Kozloff, S. (1988): Invisible storytellers. Voice-over narration in
American fiction film. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

KRATOCHWILL, Kerstin & STEINLEIN, Almut (eds) (2004): Kino der Lüge.
Bielefeld: Transcript.

Liptay, F. and Y. Wolf (2005): Was stimmt denn jetzt? Unzuverlässiges
Erzählen in Literatur und Film. München: Ed. Text und Kritik.

Nünning, A. (1997): »"But why will you say that I am mad?" On the Theory,
History, and Signals of Unreliable Narration in British Fiction.« In AAA.
Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 22 1: 83-105.

Nünning, A. (1998): »Unreliable Narrator«. In Encyclopedia of the Novel. P.
E. Schellinger (red.). Chicago & London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 2:
1386-1388.

Nünning, A. (1999): »Unreliable, compared to what? Towards a Cognitive
Theory of 'Unreliable Narration': Prolegomena and Hypotheses«. In:
Grenzüberschreitungen: Narratologien im Kontext/Transcending Boundaries:
Narratology in Context. W. Grünzweig and A. Solbach (red.). Tübingen:
Gunter Narr Verlag: 53-73.

Nünning, V. (1998): »Unreliable narration und die historische Variabilität
von Werten und Normen: The Vicar of Wakefield als Testfall für eine
kulturgeschichtliche Erzählforschung«. In Unreliable Narration. Studien zur
Theori und Praxis unglaubwürdigen Erzählens in der englischsprachigen
Erzählliteratur. A. Nünning (red.). Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier:
257-285.

Phelan, J. (2005): Living to tell about it. A rhetoric and ethics of
character narration. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Taylor, Henry M.: “More than a Hoax. William Karel’s Critical Mockumentary
Dark Side of the Moon”. In: Post Script, 26(3), Summer 2007, 88–101.

Wilson, G. M. (1986): Narration in light. Studies in cinematic point of
view. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Zerweck, B. (2001): »Historicing Unreliable Narration: Unreliability and
Cultural Discourse in Narrative Fiction.« In Style 35 1: 151-178.

Happy hunting!

Henry

**************
 <http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/wgst/>

From: Roger Almendarez <[email protected]>

I'm not too sure on work done on "unreliable narration" per se, but your
question brings to mind Deleuze's Film books, specifically the distinctions
he makes between the movement image and the time image. From what I
remember, he differentiates between the two by way of their linkage to
narration. In the former, the narrative motivates the camera's movements
(pre-WWII film), hence creating a sort of "fascist" control over vision
(that's my interpretation by the by). In the time image, however (this is
hazier for me), the camera, as a result of the trauma from WWII (again, the
wrath of fascism and its discontents), breaks free from the narrative to
direct its own vision, thus relegating the progression of the film to the
camera. This, as oppossed to it being subject to the narrative story arc
(his prime examples are italian neo-realism). If you look at the cahiers
films, and generally the new wave directors (truffaut's 400 blows, godard's
breathless, and to an amazing degree Marker's La jetee), you can see a
freedom in camera movement that makes the narrative less dependent on the
camera, and vice versa. I'd love to hear what you find though, it's a great
topic.
Best,
Roger
--
Roger Almendarez
PhD Student
Screen Cultures, Northwestern University
Co-Chair Colloquium on Ethnicity and Diaspora
*************
From: Gilbert, Charlene <[email protected]>

Alternative Scriptwriting, Fourth Edition: Rewriting the Hollywood
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