From James’s Figures to Genette’s Figures: Point of View and Narratology

摘要

The author discusses the modifications undergone by the notion « point of view » from Henry James, for whom it was primarily a way of revealing the drama of consciousness and creating realistic illusion, to Gerard Genette and Tsvetan Todorov, contemporary critics who mute the experiential and representational role of fiction, and see «point of view » as one of the mediators between story and discourse. In conclusion, the author questions the validity of the very notion «point of view,» from the position of post-structuralist critics.