Narration in Flaubert's Parrot
Essay
Narration and focalization in Flaubert’s Parrot
I must admit. I had lost every sense of direction after five pages in Barnes' book. There were no signs of a plot whatsoever and a mysterious narrator was being philosophical. What on earth could he possibly mean by “Did that burst of bubbles announce the gurgling death of another submerged reference?” I continued reading in every free minute, determined to finish the book in time, avoiding having to write the essay on the eve of the deadline. Eventually, the novel turned out to be a little weird – but not as horrible as I had expected. Relieved, I started writing this essay on narration and focalization in Julian Barnes’ ‘Flaubert’s Parrot.’ Let us start with the most obvious type of narrator in the novel, Mr. Braithwaite, who is homodiegetic and extradiegetic, meaning that he is physically involved in the actions he describes and that his actions are not described by a higher narrator. This is perhaps not the most frequent type of narrator, but it surely is the most important one. The fictional Braithwaite is the fixed focalizer. He is the one ‘seeing, thinking, hearing, […] things’. We can find examples of this narrator in chapters one, two (third part), three, five, six, seven, eight, ten, 13 and 15. Notice how Mr. Braithwaite is present throughout the whole book; he is our guide, commenting on the plot. An example can be found in chapter one: “Then I saw it. Crouched on top of a high cupboard was another parrot. […] I asked permission to take the second Loulou down …” We can use this example to have a closer look at the position of the focalizer. It is external, reflecting the narrator’s perception in a memory. Often, the switch between internal and external position happens very frequently and in a fairly subtle way, making the reading more agreeable. It is furthermore interesting to note that there is a shift throughout the novel towards more and more internalizing, culminating in
Narration and focalization in Flaubert’s Parrot
I must admit. I had lost every sense of direction after five pages in Barnes' book. There were no signs of a plot whatsoever and a mysterious narrator was being philosophical. What on earth could he possibly mean by “Did that burst of bubbles announce the gurgling death of another submerged reference?” I continued reading in every free minute, determined to finish the book in time, avoiding having to write the essay on the eve of the deadline. Eventually, the novel turned out to be a little weird – but not as horrible as I had expected. Relieved, I started writing this essay on narration and focalization in Julian Barnes’ ‘Flaubert’s Parrot.’ Let us start with the most obvious type of narrator in the novel, Mr. Braithwaite, who is homodiegetic and extradiegetic, meaning that he is physically involved in the actions he describes and that his actions are not described by a higher narrator. This is perhaps not the most frequent type of narrator, but it surely is the most important one. The fictional Braithwaite is the fixed focalizer. He is the one ‘seeing, thinking, hearing, […] things’. We can find examples of this narrator in chapters one, two (third part), three, five, six, seven, eight, ten, 13 and 15. Notice how Mr. Braithwaite is present throughout the whole book; he is our guide, commenting on the plot. An example can be found in chapter one: “Then I saw it. Crouched on top of a high cupboard was another parrot. […] I asked permission to take the second Loulou down …” We can use this example to have a closer look at the position of the focalizer. It is external, reflecting the narrator’s perception in a memory. Often, the switch between internal and external position happens very frequently and in a fairly subtle way, making the reading more agreeable. It is furthermore interesting to note that there is a shift throughout the novel towards more and more internalizing, culminating in