Subtle Sculpting: The Pressure Points of the Omniscient Narrator an Academic and Creative Examination
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Date
2016-06
Authors
Zwier, Emily Rachel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to engage with scholarly criticism of the omniscient
narrator to provide new understandings about its distinct manifestation and function in
literature. In order to reach new conclusions, this thesis will discuss the omniscient
narrator both theoretically and practically by examining short stories of literary
significance that employ the omniscient narrator. Through such exercises, this thesis
argues that the omniscience should be thought of as the most limitless end of the
spectrum of point of view. Furthermore, the omniscient narrator is best thought of as an
autonomous entity rather than a purely objective provider of knowledge, vested with its
own powers and thus its own opinions separate from author. The omniscient narrator's
opinions can be discovered by examining the way it pushes the reader towards a
particular truth of the story through such means as psychic distance and closeness,
perspective jumping, and information giving/withholding. Finally, this thesis engages
directly with the aforementioned academic discussion of the omniscient narrator
through an original short story, demonstrating its unique advantages as a tool for the
writer.
Description
63 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of English and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2016.
Keywords
Creative writing, Fiction, Omniscience, Point of view, Third person, Psychic distance, Short stories