Focalization in Life of the Iron-Mills
Essay by mbrady413 • October 24, 2017 • Essay • 492 Words (2 Pages) • 1,298 Views
Focalization
Manfred Jahn’s Focalization defines and describes the many different forms focalization
can take in a story. He begins the article by distinguishing focalization from narration. Unlike narration, focalization is viewing a narrative through the eyes of another. Because of this, readers’ information on the story may be limited as the narrator is not a neutral source. Jahn goes on to describe Modernist authors’ influence on focalization. Modernist authors’ did not want to tell a factually accurate story, instead they found it more interesting to tell their stories through the eyes of the characters in them (focalization). Jahn highlights many different theories on focalization. He specifically mentions Genette’s model along with Bal’s critique and Rimmon - Kenan’s opposing model. Genette’s model identifies the differences between non-focalization (narrator’s point of view does not restrict information) internal focalization (information is restricted based on the narrator’s perspective), and external focalization (mainly dialogue and stage directions). Bal argues that Genette’s definition of non-focalization and external focalization should be combined, creating only two categories of focalization, external and internal. Rimmon - Kenan introduces to Genette’s definition of focalization the idea that it is not only perceptual, but cognitive, emotional, and ideological. Jahn sums up this section of his article by pointing out that although the different forms of focalization are debated, it is clear that psychology, cognition, emotions, ideology, and apperception influence how we, and characters, see and interpret the world.
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