Oct30

unreliable narrator.

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i love telling stories about things that have happened and each time I tell them (just ask my family and friends), they may be just the slightest bit different, but they are as I remember them. perhaps i’m an unreliable narrator, as memoirists are known to be, and i’m okay with that-

‘I won’t tell you the story the way it happened, I’ll tell it to you the way I remember it.’

-Pam Houston

the actual definition of an unreliable narrator as written into literature or film, is the following:

 an unreliable narrator is a character who cannot be trusted, one whose credibility is compromised.They can be found in a wide range from children to mature characters.

—

‘I think that at the end of the day I’m drawn to a certain level of ambiguous storytelling that requires hard thought and work in the same way that the New York Times crossword puzzle does: Sometimes you just want to put it down or throw it out the window, but there’s a real rewarding sense if you feel like you’ve cracked it.

-damon lindelof

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74 responses »

  1. When people ask me to tell them things about my time as an EMT, I often sense that I have altered the story over time. I suspect that happens when I remember something extra, or have forgotten a vital part of it. 😊Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. I am an unreliable narrator. Sometimes I adjust the story based on someone’s input and maybe it even gets closer to the truth. But I am sure stories change based on feedback. If people yawn, I shorten the story. I am sure I adjust stories to eliminate what offended or exaggerate like crazy whatever is getting a laugh!

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  16. Before his passing this year, my younger brother wrote a column in the San Francisco Chronicle, in the space once taken by Mark Twain. He and I learned to follow the advice of that great writer, “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story” and “There is nothing the matter with this, except that it ain’t so.”

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  17. You imagination at play! Leave it to the robots to be exactly the same every time. 🤖 I may have taught the lessons throughout the day, but never exactly the same. 🥱 (With that said, I was happy to receive the feedback of “reliable narrator” regarding the protagonist from one of my early book reviews.) Great post!

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  21. I do always question memoirs because to your point, we remember things differently from how we actually experienced them. So much goes into it – context of where you were and now in life.

    The concept of an unreliable narrator in fiction and film is an interesting one. I’ve seen clever takes on this and it’s fascinating.

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  30. We can turn to Mark Twain for a classic take (actually three) along those lines:

    1907: When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying, now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that happened.

    1912: When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not; but I am getting old, and soon I shall remember only the latter.

    1924: When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened.

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  33. I love the truth of this quote: ‘I won’t tell you the story the way it happened, I’ll tell it to you the way I remember it.’ I always *think* I’m remembering things accurately, but who knows?!

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