(urth) Introduction and Breath

[António Pedro Marques]

Gerry Quinn wrote (14-04-2011 00:48):

> One thing I've noticed on various boards is people confidently asserting
> that Severian is a liar, then clamming up when asked for examples.

I think that's chiefly because the inconsistencies in the narrative are so 
obvious that asking for them is kind of a breach of social contract.

But the problem imo is that, like 'fantastic', 'unreliable narrator' is yet 
another label people attach to a thing, when in fact the author's purpose 
was just to write it the way he sees it. Just as Gene Wolfe points out that 
characterising parts of literature as 'fantastic' is but an artifact of 
being used to view 'naturalistic' literature, a comparatively recent fad, as 
the default or only kind of literature, so the 'unreliable narrator' concept 
is an artifact of being used to an omniscient, unerring, objective, 
transparent narrator, which in itself is a very questionable idea.