Stories in Disguise: On Odysseus' Ithacan Lies and Their Relevance ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

five texts have been defined as "stories", their fictive speakers as "narrators", and their contents as "untruth", I would propose that only the first two are instances of the device of "unreliable narration." This does not mean that their fictive narrators are lying. Rather, to recognize it as "unreliable narration" is to say that it is a story the perspective of which is awry and therefore indirectly characterizes the fictive teller. The storytelling in these episodes is parodic. The third text has a complexity of its own. It should not be characterized as "unreliable narration", because there is no flaw in the representation of the intention of the fictive narrator and the representation of his telling. The story of the beggar could be described as the instrument of a fictional speech act (in this case a warning) that has nothing to do with narrating for the sake of narration. So even if the paradigm he is offering the suitor is a full-blown narrative, it is totally integrated with a dramatized speech act, which prevents it from emerging as a narrative of its own. The last two lies lack the narrative characteristics that apply to the former ones. They never lose contact with the dramatized scene of enunciation, and although Odysseus is here speaking in disguise their ethos is in harmony with the ethos of Odysseus' own serious actions. Here, there is no sense of irony or parody. Notes 1 Sheila Murnaghan, Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey. Prineton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1987. 2 Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction, [1964], 2 ed. Chicago & London: The Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1983, in particular Chapter 12. 3 For example Adele Haft, "Odysseus, Idomeneus and Meriones: The Cretan Lies of Odyssey 13– 19." The Classical Journal 79 (1984): 289-306; Hugh Parry, "The Apologos of Odysseus: Lies, All Lies?" Phoenix 48 (1994): 1–20; W.B. Stanford, "Studies in the Characterization of Ulysses – III: The Lies of Odysseus." In Hermathena/ A Series of Papers by Members of Trinity College 75 (1950): 35–48; Werner Suerbaum, "Die Ich-Erzählungen des Odysseus." Poetica 2 (1968): 150– 177; C.R. Trahman, "Odysseus' Lies (Odyssey, Books 13–19)." Phoenix/ The Journal of the Classical Association of Canada 6, no. 2 (1952): 31–43 and P. Walcot, "Odysseus and the Art of Lying." Ancient Society 8 (1977): 1–19. 4 See, for instance, Seymour Chatman, Story and Discourse. Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Pr., 1978 and. Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Film. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Pr., 1990; Gregory Currie, "Unreliability Refigured: Narrative in Literature and Film." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 53:1 (1995): 19-29; Marcia M. Eaton, "Liars, Ranters, and Dramatic Speakers." In Language and Aesthetics: Contributions to the Philosophy of Art. Edited by Benjamin R. Tilghman. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973; Marie-Laure Ryan, "The Pragmatics of Personal and Impersonal Fiction", Poetics 10(1981): 517–539; Tamar Yakobi, "Fictional Reliability as a Communicative Problem." Poetics Today 2, no. 2 (Winter 1981): 113–126; Francis Sparshott, "The Case of the Unreliable Narrator." Philosophy and Literature 10, no. 2 (1986): 145–167; Jenny de Reuck, "Stereoscopic 20
Perspective: Transmission and Reception in Unreliable Homodiegetic Narration." AUMLA 74 (1990): 154–168. 5 See for instance Tamar Yacobi, 1981, p. 113. 6 Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London: Methuen, 1983, p. 95. 7 The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1965. 8 See for instance Chatman 1978 and 1990; Ryan 1981; Rimmon-Kenan 1983; de Reuck 1990; Currie 1995; for a critique of the assumption of an implied author, see Wall 1994. 9 Chatman 1978, Ryan 1981, and de Reuch 1990. 10 Marie-Laure Ryan, 1981, p. 530-531. 11 Ryan 1981, p. 531. 12 "Narrator", in Irene R. Makaryk (ed.), Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1993. 13 Ryan 1981, p. 531. 14 P. Walcot, "Odysseus and the Art of Lying". Ancient Society 8 (1977): 1-19, p. 11. C. R.Trahman stresses the intimidating function of this narrative: Odysseus warns the shepherd not to touch his goods. "Odysseus' Lies." Phoenix 6 (1952), No 2: 31–43. But this psychological analysis will not conflict with the one I propose. Marilyn A. Katz, in Penelope's Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy in the Odyssey. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991 argues that Odysseus's fictional self-representation represents a "true" characterization of who he is. Hugh Parry, in "The Apologos of Odysseus: Lies, All Lies?". Phoenix 48(1994): 1-20 has presented convincing arguments for why Odysseus' narrative at the Phaiakian court should not be taken as unreliable. 15 Kevin Crotty has stressed the importance of the kedea (suffering) theme as constitutive of the epical ethos of the Odyssey. See his The Poetics of Supplication: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994, especially Chapter 8: "Supplication and Narrative." References Booth, Wayne, C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: The Univ. of Chicago Pr. [1961] 2:nd ed. 1987. Burrows, Reynold Z. "Deception As a Comic Device in the Odyssey." The 21
Page 1 and 2: Stories in Disguise: On Odysseus' I
Page 3 and 4: Such a sense of irony can also be b
Page 5 and 6: Odysseus lets the Phaiakians know t
Page 7 and 8: as instrumental in the communicatio
Page 9 and 10: to his interlocutors, but the "unre
Page 11 and 12: typically again, the means employed
Page 13 and 14: straining to kill me, for they were
Page 15 and 16: even in your own country give over
Page 17 and 18: these three episodes do not resembl
Page 19: was king for nine-year periods, and

Stories in Disguise: On Odysseus' Ithacan Lies and Their Relevance ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?