When I was a child, my father played a trick on me. I was perhaps eleven or twelve years old. He had noticed that I consumed literature at a frenetic pace, albeit mostly children’s books. Whatever was marketed to my age range. And it’s true. We would receive that scholastic magazine at school – the one with hundreds of books – and I’d take it home and check off a massive number of books. This was always fine in our household since there was never a budget for books. Books were sacrosanct. We could have as many as we wanted.
But this day he pulled me aside and told me that he’d make a deal with me. From that point on, for every kids book I read, I had to read one of the classics. As an oldest child, there were many things I didn’t challenge. Rather, I gave it a moment’s thought and realized that it was a fairly rational request. After all, I’d still be able to read as much as I wanted, but I’d have to step out into some higher quality books.
Challenge accepted.
However, something happened that I didn’t expect. It became harder and harder to find contemporary literature that I enjoyed, even among adult books. The more I read the classics, the more heightened my tastes became. I grew acclimated to profound character depth. I’d seen how some of the classic Russian works marry character and plot without dropping either. Over the years, I learned how to find modern works that don’t sacrifice that quality I love, although it’s still something of a challenge.
All that to say, I have a LONG history of reading classic literature. And a profound respect for these works.
If you’re like me, you may have noticed that a frequently-employed tool in the classics is that of a narrator. In the Gothic sphere, books such as Wuthering Heights and The Turn of the Screw used this tactic. Essentially, this is where a third person – someone either entirely removed from the main plot line (The Turn of the Screw) or a tertiary character who witnessed the story, but wasn’t a dominant player (Wuthering Heights) tells the story to the readers.
We’re introduced to the fact that the story is narrated at the very beginning, are reminded of the fact at points throughout the story, and then close out the tale with the narrator.
Note: a narrator – in classic settings – is never a main character. It’s always someone somewhat removed from the tale.
Why a Narrator
There’s a fireside storytelling quality about a work with a narrator. It feels much as if we’ve gathered around a hearth and are listening to a friend or family member recount the tale that they heard or witnessed. It has a natural feeling about it.
Isn’t that how stories have been told down through the ages? The use of a narrator replicates this method and invites us in as if we’re a close friend.
Where Are the Narrators Today?
If you’re following me and thinking about the contemporary market you may have noticed that this tactic is rarely used any longer. I can’t think of a single example though I’m sure there must be one out there.
Why is this? Why did the use of narrators fall by the wayside?
This summer I participated in a writing conference. At one point, the leader – a well-published author – asked several of us to come up front and discuss our work-in-process. It was part of an exercise to both demonstrate what she had been teaching us about marrying very specific protagonist goals with conflict – something I thought I understood very well. I learned so much that I walked away with many helpful tips.
During this exercise, I described how I had started writing my current book. Using a narrator, of course. I pictured the entire book as told classic-style from the perspective of the main character’s brother. She gave me an interesting look – one of perplexity and caution. And then she challenged me to rethink that one.
Her argument was that the industry – and the market – don’t appreciate narrators any longer because it creates more distance between the reader and the story. Contemporary readers want to fall into the gripping plot and a narrator pulls them out of the story at least to a small degree. Enough of a degree that they don’t appreciate it and publishers don’t want to see it.
It made sense to me after she said it, but having read so many classic works (Gothic and otherwise) that use narrators, I wouldn’t have known that. Because of my father’s requirement (which I now appreciate) I have developed a very high capacity for literary perseverance. So my perspective and that of the modern reader are a bit different.
That said, when she talked through the work with me, I was able to see a way to still write the tale I had in mind and yet come in much closer. In some ways it made some of the problems I’ve been working through easier to overcome.
Conclusion
So in summary, I think she’s right. The narrators have fallen by the wayside because today’s readers want a more immersive tale. We could psycho-analyze why that is. Perhaps people today want to feel the book more than readers in prior generations did. Maybe we’ve just discovered the advantages of this close proximity and have never thought to look back.
I’ll close with one caveat: there are some books like Anne Rice’s Interview with Vampire that bridge the divide. If you’ve read the book, you know that it is narrated and reads like a novel from a prior era, but still has a contemporary feel. Why? Because the narrator is the main character: Louis. So I suppose that’s what I’ve learned about the use of narrators. They can still be employed, but need to be a principle character.
That gives all of us the best of both worlds. The immersive literary experience married to the style of another place and time!
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