narratology Narratology is the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect human perception. The term is an anglicisation of French ''narratologie'', coined by Tzvetan Todorov (''Grammaire du Décaméron'', 1969). Its theoretica ...

, focalisation is the restricted perspective through which a narrative is presented. Coined by French narrative theorist

Gérard Genette Gérard Genette (; 7 June 1930 – 11 May 2018) was a French literary theorist, associated in particular with the structuralist movement and with figures such as Roland Barthes and Claude Lévi-Strauss, from whom he adapted the concept of ''b ...

, his definition distinguishes between ''internal'' focalisation ( first-person) and ''external'' focalisation ( third-person, fixed on the actions of and environments around a character), with ''zero'' focalisation representing an omnisicent narrator. ''Homodiegetic'' narrators exist in the same (hence the prefix 'homo') storyworld as the characters exist in, whereas ''heterodiegetic'' narrators are not a part of that storyworld. The term 'focalisation' refers to how information is restricted in storytelling.

Determinant

Focalisation in literature is similar to point of view in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and in

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

, but professionals in the field often see these two traditions as being distinctly different. Genette's work was intended to refine the notions of point of view and narrative perspective. It separates the question of "Who sees?" in a narrative from "who speaks?" A narrative where all information presented reflects the subjective perception of a certain character is said to be ''internally focalised.'' An

omniscient narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

corresponds to ''zero focalisation''. ''External focalisation'' is the camera eye. A novel in which no simple rules restrict the transition between different focalisations could be said to be unfocalised, but specific relationships between basic types of focalisation constitute more complex focalisation strategy; for example, a novel could provide external focalisation alternating with internal focalisations through three different characters, where the second character is never focalized except after the first, and three other characters are never focalized at all.

Narratology

The specific domain of

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...

which deals with focalisation is

, which concerns not only distinctions between subjective and objective focalisations but various gradations between them, such as

free indirect speech Free indirect speech is the literary technique of writing a character's first-person thoughts in the voice of the third-person narrator. It is a style using aspects of third-person narration conjoined with the essence of first-person direct spee ...

or quasi-direct discourse.

Narratologist Narratology is the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect human perception. The term is an anglicisation of French ''narratologie'', coined by Tzvetan Todorov (''Grammaire du Décaméron'', 1969). Its theoretica ...

s tend to have a difficult time agreeing on the exact definitions of categories in their field; hence its dynamic nature. Jo Alyson Parker described such transient speech as a "roving trajectory of focalisation", as seen in the works of

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

(such as ''

Mrs Dalloway ''Mrs Dalloway'' is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England. The working title of ''Mrs Dalloway'' was ''The Hours ...

'').

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Terms in literary theory Narratology

Determinant

Narratology

See also

References

Bibliography