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The Problem of the Human Narrator
- Journal of Modern Literature
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 32, Number 4, Summer 2009
- pp. 141-143
- 10.2979/jml.2009.32.4.141
- Review
- Additional Information
Brian Richardson’s Unnatural Voices: Extreme Narration in Modern and Contemporary Fiction problematizes traditional narrative theory’s reliance on an anthropomorphic conceptualization of the narrator and the presupposition of a mimetic narrative situation. Richardson argues that narrative theory has not kept up with developments in narration and he proposes a new, expanded system of classification. Through a rigorous inductive approach to argumentation, Richardson indicates deviations from the humanistic norm. In the process, his study catalogues literary innovations in narration throughout the century with equal attention to established literary figures and lesser-known authors alike.