narrator

narrator
narrator [nar′āt΄ər, nar′ətər; na rāt′ər, nərāt′ər]
n.
L < narratus: see NARRATE
1. a person who relates a story or account
2. a person who reads descriptive or narrative passages, as between scenes of a play

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See narratability.

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      one who tells a story. In a work of fiction the narrator determines the story's point of view. If the narrator is a full participant in the story's action, the narrative is said to be in the first person. A story told by a narrator who is not a character in the story is a third-person narrative.

      A work may have more than one narrator, as in an epistolary novel such as Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, which consists of letters by a variety of characters. In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, one character tells part of the story and then introduces another who continues it or provides another perspective on events.

      Narrators are sometimes categorized by the way in which they present their story. An intrusive narrator, a common device in many 18th- and 19th-century works, is one who interrupts the story to provide a commentary to the reader on some aspect of the story or on a more general topic. An unreliable narrator is one who does not understand the full import of a situation or one who makes incorrect conclusions and assumptions about events witnessed; this type is exemplified by the narrator of Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier. A related device is the naive narrator, who does not have the sophistication to understand the full import of the story's events, though the reader understands. Such narrators are often children, as in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The protagonist of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is the paradigm of the self-conscious narrator, who calls attention to the text as fiction.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • narrator — (n.) 1610s, from L. narrator a relater, narrator, historian, agent noun from narrat , stem of narrare to tell, relate (see NARRATION (Cf. narration)). In sense of a commentator in a radio program it is from 1941 …   Etymology dictionary

  • narrator — {{/stl 13}}{{stl 8}}rz. mos I, Mc. narratororze; lm M. narratororzy {{/stl 8}}{{stl 7}} w utworze epickim: fikcyjna osoba przedstawiająca przebieg akcji; też: osoba opowiadająca : {{/stl 7}}{{stl 10}}Narrator wszystkowiedzący. Być świetnym,… …   Langenscheidt Polski wyjaśnień

  • Narrator — Nar*ra tor, n. [L.] One who narrates; one who relates a series of events or transactions. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • narrator — index informant Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • narrator — [n] storyteller author, chronicler, describer, novelist, raconteur, reporter, teller of tales, writer, yarn spinner; concepts 348,356 …   New thesaurus

  • narrator — [nar′āt΄ər, nar′ətər; na rāt′ər, nərāt′ər] n. [L < narratus: see NARRATE] 1. a person who relates a story or account 2. a person who reads descriptive or narrative passages, as between scenes of a play …   English World dictionary

  • Narrator — Narration redirects here. For the English band, see Narration (band). This article is about the dramatic device. For the Microsoft software, see Microsoft Narrator. For the Doctor Who character, see Rassilon. A narrator is, within any story… …   Wikipedia

  • narrator — UK [nəˈreɪtə(r)] / US [ˌnəˈreɪtər] noun [countable] Word forms narrator : singular narrator plural narrators 1) someone who tells the story in a novel or film Marcel is the first person narrator of the novel. 2) someone whose voice explains what… …   English dictionary

  • narrator — nar|ra|tor [ ,nə reıtər ] noun count 1. ) someone who tells the story in a novel or movie: Marcel is the first person narrator of the novel. 2. ) someone whose voice explains what is happening in a television program or movie, but who you do not… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • narrator — m IV, DB. a, Ms. narratororze; lm M. narratororzy, DB. ów «osoba opowiadająca; w utworze literackim: postać opowiadająca przebieg akcji» Świetny, błyskotliwy, urodzony narrator. Ukryty, dyskretny narrator. ‹łac.› …   Słownik języka polskiego

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