Constructed Selves and Hidden Truths : A Study of Unreliable Narration in The Secret History

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines unreliablie narration in Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Drawing primarily on Wayne Booth's cocnept of The implied author and James Phelan's rhetorical model of self-presentation, the analysis explores how the novel creates a gap between the narration of the protagonist Richard Papen and the events of the story. Additionally, this thesis conducts a comprison with the narrator Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in order to spot any similarities between how the two novels teaches its readers to distrust their narrators. The study shows that Richard is an unreliable narrator throughh his self-presentation being contradicted by the narrative, his omissions, and his values not being the same as those of the implied author. Additionally, this study finds that there are several similarities between Richard's and Nick's unreliabilty, particurarly how both narrators construct self-images that are undermined by the narrative.