tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post4003298037109100913..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: An objective, True storyD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-13888864308164846782010-03-01T13:55:33.980-05:002010-03-01T13:55:33.980-05:00I would agree that the default position is Reliabl...I would agree that the default position is Reliable until we are told otherwise by the novelist. Of course, in the DeLillo bit you just quoted, the guy could have been wrong--maybe Elster did have all the intelligence at his fingertips, and his "bitter wishfulness" was pure projection on the narrator's part. This is easy to convey if you introduce another narrative voice, stickier if a single narrator is forced to pull the rug out from under himself. One of my favorite examples of the latter is Jane Smiley's novella "Good Will," by the way.<br /><br />I've been enjoying the blog!James Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08142978986121432467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-88752998360362804662010-02-24T18:30:56.838-05:002010-02-24T18:30:56.838-05:00Perhaps, as you imply, "reliable" as a l...Perhaps, as you imply, "reliable" as a label is the problem. If we substitute naive, duplicitous, or other qualifiers, rather than settle for the umbrella-word (reliable), then we may have a better way of zeroing in on and qualifying first person narrators, especially when other aspects of the narrative under consideration (other characterizations, for example) serve as circumstantial evidence against the narrator's "reliability."R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.com