In the novel Thorfinn and the Witch’s Curse, many point-of-view characters hold ideas, notions and stories that are exaggerated, a bit confused, misinformed or simply wrong. A prime example, Yeru the old nurse recounts the family lore with major embellishments, attributes matchmaking to a love-struck suitor, and, unbeknownst to herself brings a dangerous mystical association into the family home. As in the nonfictional universe, some characters are straightforward and uncomplicated, their lives an open WYSIWYG book, while others impart news and stories from their own perspective and for their own purposes, planting thoughts and withholding information, and still others simply misremember or get the facts incorrect. Complicating this situation is the fact that the immigrants in Danelaw England had no consistent written records and did not keep a count of years, instead counting years from a great event within personal or familial reckoning. The Agneson boys learn of other perspectives on happenings from their own experience as well as other more knowledgeable sources. And young Finn learns that even first-hand knowledge can be doubted and set aside if it doesn’t fit into the expectations or world view of the audience.
An unreliable narrator is a point-of-view character whose credibility is compromised. Originated by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction, the term encompasses the many types of literary devices that provide narration that we readers recognize as unreliable. Examples include using a child with narrow understanding or completely different life experiences from the people in the story; employing an outsider or a totally innocent character; using a criminal or insane character, or even employing a ghost. Think of the outsider in Huxley’s Brave New World, or the Martian in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. Edgar Allan Poe was famous for unreliable narration, where his point-of-view character attempts to hide his own insanity. Sometimes the narrator is unreliable by their very nature, really horrible people telling their stories from a perspective that in no way can be considered objective, such as Alex from A Clockwork Orange, a truly reprehensible character sharing his chronicle of events with us and seeking our empathy. The malleability of truth and the idea of an unreliable narrator is fascinating to me as an author. In many ways it is an allegory to our modern times, where social media has amplified the confusion of perspectives, and truths are manipulated for personal gain or portrayed from various viewpoints, and not always with positive results. The story of Thorfinn and the Agneson clan will include many unreliable narrators, from the misinformed and manipulative, to the stories of a rambling ghost and mythical characters! As the adventures of the Agneson family unfold, we will see more deceits and outright lies, confused facts and deluded people and more unreliable narrators.