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Narratives

Daniel Fusch · 26 Oct 1999, 00:55 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Daniel Fusch" <dfusch at hotmail.com>
Subject: (urth) Narratives
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 17:55:41 PDT
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0227 at digest.urth.net>
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William Ansley:

snip:
"We have some data to consider the question.  Severian repeats several
stories not of his own invention.  Do they show any of the same
idiosyncrasies as Severian's narrative?"

William:

No, they don't. They have their own idiosyncrasies. Each is different from=20
the others, in structure, narration, and form. (I'll talk more about this i=
n=20
a few paragraphs.)

When you say that we have no evidence that the storytelling of Severian's=20
culture is significantly different from our own, I have to answer: Every=20
culture has its own species of storytelling. Homeric storytelling is=20
infinitely different from modern Euro-American storytelling (after all, the=20
epic begins in the middle of the story, and works both backwards into the=20
past and forwards into the future!). Native American storytelling is=20
different from Euro-American storytelling. Consider modernism and=20
metafiction as opposed to realist fiction. Also consider postmodern=20
narratives from African nations. You could argue that Achebe's "Things Fall=20
Apart" follows the structure of a Western narrative, but what about Ngugi's=20
work?

So narratives differ in structure and form even in the present. In "The=20
Sound and the Fury" there are four different narrators (five, counting the=20
Appendix). The first is autistic; the second is in the last stages of=20
suicidal psychosis; the third lies to everyone, including himself. The=20
reader is invited--required--to interpret the narrators. The reader can not=20
always take them at face value.

If Severian's time is far ahead in the future, with an entirely different=20
culture and social order, it would almost certainly have different standard=
s=20
for storytelling. Its people would expect different things.

Indeed, in Severian's own time, there are different types of stories. There=20
is the story told by Loyal to the Group of Seventeen, for example. There is=20
Foila's story, which resembles a medieval romance. There is Melito's story,=20
which is like a classical fable. There is also Hallvard's story, which is=20
realism. Note that Severian never gets the chance to judge between these=20
stories; nor does he tell the reader what judgement he might make. The=20
implication is that all four are worthy. Consider that the Ascians invent a=20
mode of storytelling to work around Correct Thought. They adapt their=20
storytelling to fit their culture.

Also consider the stories in the brown book. The story of the student and=20
his thesis, for example, which Severian relates in "The Claw of the=20
Conciliator." This story starts out with one protagonist, then focuses on a=20
second, then returns to the first--and ends with a theme--indeed, with a=20
moralist statement--that seems disconnected from the rest of the work. This=20
story may well be "unsatisfactory" by contemporary standards of=20
Euro-American realist storytelling.

In the story of The Little Boy Called Frog, the plot bounces all over the=20
place! What does the end of the story have to do with the beginning of it?=20
Note, too, that the distance from the main character changes=20
throughout--until in the fifth section of the story, the narrator relates=20
future events in Frog's life very distantly, as if recounting a distant=20
history.

Severian's world is filled with extremely different types of narratives,=20
because it is filled with extremely different cultures. Remember, too, that=20
Hallvard, who is a realist storyteller, is disdainful of Melito's=20
storytelling, which is based on moral fables. Hallvard may well consider=20
Melito's story to be an "unsatisfactory" narrative.

Anyway, my point is that Wolfe is examining--and indeed, playing around=20
with--the structure and nature of storytelling. He presents us with=20
Severian, an unconventional narrator who is in many ways a modernist=20
storyteller, and Severian presents us with stories, tales, and fables that=20
differ radically in narration and in narrator. In one sense, Wolfe is=20
allowing us to survey the vast variety of storytelling methods. By not=20
having Severian pass judgement on the four stories in Foila's=20
contest--indeed, by removing the opportunity for Severian to judge them (th=
e=20
contestants all die)--Wolfe is saying that ALL types of narrators are=20
satisfactory narrators, and that ALL styles of storytelling are satisfactor=
y=20
styles, because storytelling is unique to the culture and it is also unique=20
to the individual. Storytellers with different backgrounds provide you with=20
different stories. Because the story is the work of the storyteller, you=20
will have as many different kinds of stories as you have different kinds of=20
storytellers.

With all this in mind, I rejoice in the fact that Severian is unreliable!=20
Severian's narrative puts my mind to work--and I, as a reader, have come to=20
expect intellectual stimulation from a story (I suppose one's judgement of=20
whether a narrative is "satisfactory" depends, in the end, on one's=20
expectations as a reader).

I don't think Wolfe has failed with this narration; I think he has succeede=
d=20
admirably.

That said, I hope to continue to examine Severian's unreliability and try t=
o=20
pin down exactly what sort of narrator Severian is--just as I might examine=20
Jason Compson's or Quentin Compson's unreliability in Faulkner's "The Sound=20
and the Fury," in order to better understand the work and what the author i=
s=20
trying to say about the human condition. --And, of course, to increase my=20
enjoyment of the work.

I hope this clears up my viewpoint a little,

Daniel Fusch

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