On the Semantics of Unreliable Narration

Abstract

The article discusses unreliability in fiction. Unreliable narration is described as a complex of authorial markers that create discrepancy between the authorial and narratorial levels and are used to lead a reader through the text. The article provides classifications of the unreliability types based either on the functions of narrator or on the semantic functions of unreliability. The article shows how unreliability can be used to create both “open” texts with intradiegetic narration, such as short stories by R. Akutagawa, and “closed” texts with extradiegetic narration, such as novels by J. Austen. Refs 10.