Why do we accept a narrative discourse ascribed to a “third-person narrator” as true? The classical, and a cognitive approach
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Erzsébet Szabó
Erzsébet Szabó (b. 1970) is a senior lecturer at the University of Szeged 〈saboe@lit.u-szeged.hu〉. Her research interests include literary theory, narratology, and the theory of possible worlds. Her publications include “Das Phänomen der Ambivalenz aus Sicht der Theorie der möglichen Welten und der klassischen Narratologie” (2009); “A lehetséges világok elmélete a narratológiában” [The possible-worlds-theory in narratology] (2010); “A narratívák olvasásának kognitív modellálása” [Cognitive modelling of narratives] (2012); andNarrative theory (2013).
Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to discuss the question of why readers accept a literary narrative discourse attributed traditionally to an “omniscient third-person narrator” unconditionally as true. I will advocate two theses. First, that this characteristic of narrative comprehension is a consequence of a grammatical feature of the narrative discourse, namely, the absence of the “narrating-I.” This format mimics what Cosmides and Tooby label as scope-free representation, i.e., a representation that is not bound by scope-operators and thus treated by a cognitive architecture as architecturally true. Second, narrative discourse ascribed traditionally to a third person narrator should be understood as the linguistic representation of the true states of affairs of a narrative world.
About the author
Erzsébet Szabó (b. 1970) is a senior lecturer at the University of Szeged 〈saboe@lit.u-szeged.hu〉. Her research interests include literary theory, narratology, and the theory of possible worlds. Her publications include “Das Phänomen der Ambivalenz aus Sicht der Theorie der möglichen Welten und der klassischen Narratologie” (2009); “A lehetséges világok elmélete a narratológiában” [The possible-worlds-theory in narratology] (2010); “A narratívák olvasásának kognitív modellálása” [Cognitive modelling of narratives] (2012); and Narrative theory (2013).
©2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Linguistic and literary aspects of perspectivity
- Introduction: Linguistic and literary aspects of perspectivity
- Context-dependent vantage points in literary narratives: A functional cognitive approach
- Authorial intention and global coherence in fictional text comprehension: A cognitive approach
- The role of perspectives in various forms of language use
- From trace to topical field: Toward a linguistic definition of point of view
- Indexicals, fiction, and perspective
- Why do we accept a narrative discourse ascribed to a “third-person narrator” as true? The classical, and a cognitive approach
- De-essentializing authenticity: A semiotic approach
- Introduction: De-essentializing authenticity: A semiotic approach
- Culture as accent: The cultural logic of hijabistas
- Why X doesn’t always mark the spot: Contested authenticity in Mexican indigenous language politics
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Linguistic and literary aspects of perspectivity
- Introduction: Linguistic and literary aspects of perspectivity
- Context-dependent vantage points in literary narratives: A functional cognitive approach
- Authorial intention and global coherence in fictional text comprehension: A cognitive approach
- The role of perspectives in various forms of language use
- From trace to topical field: Toward a linguistic definition of point of view
- Indexicals, fiction, and perspective
- Why do we accept a narrative discourse ascribed to a “third-person narrator” as true? The classical, and a cognitive approach
- De-essentializing authenticity: A semiotic approach
- Introduction: De-essentializing authenticity: A semiotic approach
- Culture as accent: The cultural logic of hijabistas
- Why X doesn’t always mark the spot: Contested authenticity in Mexican indigenous language politics
- The semiotics and politics of “real selfhood” in the American therapeutic discourse of the World War II era
- Inauthentic authenticity: Semiotic design and globalization in the margins of China
