Etching "Inconscience": Unreliability as a Function in Narrative Situations

Abstract

The article takes as its point of departure Henry James's notion of "inconscience· or, as Booth was later to call it, unreliability, as a function of the mediator in narrative situations. It explores the literary etiology of the concept and illuminates by praxis the parameters within which such narrators are placed, offering in the conclusion a typology of "incon­scient" narrators which may form the basis of subsequent narratological exegesis.

Opsomming
Die artikel neem as vertrekpunt Henry James se nosie van "inconscience", of, soos Booth dit later sou noem, onbetroubaarheid, as 'n funksie van die bemiddelaar in narratiewe situasies. Dit verken die literere etiologie van die konsep en ondersoek prakties die parameters waarbinne sulke vertellers geplaas word. In die gevolgtrekking word 'n moontlike tipologie van "inconscient" vertellers aan die hand gedoen, waarop toekomstige narratologiese eksegese gebaseer sou kon word.