{"id":286,"date":"2017-06-14T14:18:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T13:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/licor.hivolda.no\/?page_id=286"},"modified":"2017-08-17T14:02:07","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T13:02:07","slug":"focalizers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/licor.hivolda.no\/?page_id=286","title":{"rendered":"Focalizers"},"content":{"rendered":"

If we are made to look at something from a particular point of view, we say that our perspective on that thing has been\u00a0focalized<\/em>. The object or person who determines the point of view we have been offered is the\u00a0focalizer<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Individual studies of narrative\u00a0do not always make it clear whether they are using the term\u00a0focalizer<\/em> to denote the person or object\u00a0upon whom<\/em> the narrative is focalized or the person or object\u00a0through whom<\/em> it is focalized. We should ourselves be more careful and precise than this and specify in exactly which sense we understand a character or\u00a0object to be acting as a focalizer in our discussion, although the word focalizer<\/em>\u2018s\u00a0two different senses do often tend to blend into one in practice. A novel about the Trojan War that focused for the most part on the experiences of one of the regular (lowly and unremarked) soldiers in the Trojan army, for instance, is more than likely to end up representing the war from that particular soldier\u2019s particular point of view.<\/p>\n

Narrators are always going to be among a narrative\u2019s most influential and notable focalizers, although other objects and agents can serve this role\u00a0as well. As such, they provide a multiplicity of alternative perspectives on events that can give us a fuller understanding of what happens and either uphold or subtly question the presentation and interpretation of those events\u00a0offered by the narrator. This is a very important point. For it is through the introduction and play of different voices that we are awarded a certain distance from or \u2018perspective\u2019 on each of them \u2013 a position from which we can decide whether they are sincere or sarcastic, truthful or deceitful, neutral or biased, informed or ignorant.<\/p>\n

For this reason, it is vital\u00a0we are able to distinguish focalizers from narrators when their roles diverge. To do this, some narratologists have suggested that we ask two separate questions:<\/p>\n