Tellers and experiencers in autobiographical narratives :
Focalization in Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass and The
Liars’ Club by Mary Karr

FONIOKOVÁ, Zuzana. Tellers and experiencers in autobiographical narratives : Focalization in Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass and The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr. Philological Studies: Literary Research / Prace filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo. Warszawa: Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2018, vol. 11, No 8, p. 113-128. ISSN 2084-6045.

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TY  - JOUR
ID  - 1471556
AU  - Fonioková, Zuzana
PY  - 2018
TI  - Tellers and experiencers in autobiographical narratives : Focalization in Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass and The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
JF  - Philological Studies: Literary Research / Prace filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo
VL  - 11
IS  - 8
SP  - 113-128
EP  - 113-128
PB  - Uniwersytet Warszawski
SN  - 20846045
KW  - autobiography
KW  - perspective
KW  - focalization
KW  - Grass
KW  - Karr
UR  - https://www.journals.polon.uw.edu.pl/index.php/pfl/issue/view/4
N2  - This article examines the narrative point of view in two autobiographical texts, pointing out the diverse effects the narratives achieve by means of different focalization strategies. After a short explication of the split between the narrator and protagonist in life stories, I look at focalization techniques in Günter Grass’s Peeling the Onion (2006), where the perception of the present self continuously interferes in the depiction of the past. The superior knowledge available to the narrator at the time of narration leads to an interpretation of the depicted events that the experiencing self could not provide. I argue that although the book calls attention to the constructive nature of memory and narrative that necessarily affects retrospective accounts of the past, it also states its preference for the lens of the present by employing focalization through the narrating I. I subsequently contrast Grass’s text and its narrative strategies with Mary Karr’s childhood memoir The Liars’ Club (1995) and demonstrate how this narrative attains its realistic effect by engaging the child protagonist as the predominant focalizer. By shifting focalization between the narrating I and the experiencing I, involving either the suspension or application of the narrator’s current knowledge, Karr manipulates readers’ engagement with the narrative, such as their empathy and moral judgment. Furthermore, the text communicates a sense of identity and continuity between the experiencer and the teller, which stands in sharp contrast to the emphasis Grass’s narrative puts on the distance between these two positions. Finally, I briefly address the challenges presented by recent conceptions of identity construction to the distinction between the narrating I and the experiencing I, suggesting that these narratological concepts retain their relevance to discussions of autobiographical texts as literary works rather than stages of self-creation.
ER  -

Basic information
Original name	Tellers and experiencers in autobiographical narratives : Focalization in Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass and The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Authors	FONIOKOVÁ, Zuzana (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
Edition	Philological Studies: Literary Research / Prace filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo, Warszawa, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2018, 2084-6045.

Other information
Original language	English
Type of outcome	Article in a journal
Field of Study	60205 Literary theory
Country of publisher	Poland
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW	URL
RIV identification code	RIV/00216224:14210/18:00104605
Organization unit	Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English	autobiography; perspective; focalization; Grass; Karr
Tags	rivok
Tags	International impact, Reviewed
Changed by	Changed by: Mgr. Zuzana Fonioková, Ph.D., učo 39866. Changed: 13/9/2021 09:24.

Abstract

This article examines the narrative point of view in two autobiographical texts, pointing out the diverse effects the narratives achieve by means of different focalization strategies. After a short explication of the split between the narrator and protagonist in life stories, I look at focalization techniques in Günter Grass’s Peeling the Onion (2006), where the perception of the present self continuously interferes in the depiction of the past. The superior knowledge available to the narrator at the time of narration leads to an interpretation of the depicted events that the experiencing self could not provide. I argue that although the book calls attention to the constructive nature of memory and narrative that necessarily affects retrospective accounts of the past, it also states its preference for the lens of the present by employing focalization through the narrating I. I subsequently contrast Grass’s text and its narrative strategies with Mary Karr’s childhood memoir The Liars’ Club (1995) and demonstrate how this narrative attains its realistic effect by engaging the child protagonist as the predominant focalizer. By shifting focalization between the narrating I and the experiencing I, involving either the suspension or application of the narrator’s current knowledge, Karr manipulates readers’ engagement with the narrative, such as their empathy and moral judgment. Furthermore, the text communicates a sense of identity and continuity between the experiencer and the teller, which stands in sharp contrast to the emphasis Grass’s narrative puts on the distance between these two positions. Finally, I briefly address the challenges presented by recent conceptions of identity construction to the distinction between the narrating I and the experiencing I, suggesting that these narratological concepts retain their relevance to discussions of autobiographical texts as literary works rather than stages of self-creation.

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