DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Carlos Ruiz Zaf?n: The Shadow Of The Wind

**sbgctsa** · 07-11-2009, 07:32 PM

The truth is that the main story is told by Daniel Sempere, and when you say it goes to a third person, basically is because Zafon gives voice to other characters who are telling their stories, adding more to the construction to this long and very well detailed story. Is not that complex, I could summarize it in just a few lines, but that another skill by the author, who is giving you in a paused way the information you need to keep on building the story and turning the pages very quickly.

Well yes, I got that but I thought that was exactly what I felt broke the fourth wall, so to speak. If the entire story is Daniel's, what's all these other characters - some of them dead - doing narrating in his book, saying things Daniel couldn't possibly know? Or is the narrator really Carax, or is Daniel making it up, or...? To me, this is one of the shortcomings of the first person narrator, and it feels like rather than trying to find a way around that problem Zaf?n just ignores that it's a problem at all. It's a deliberate suspension of belief, and I don't think it's very skillful. But it's not a huge problem, just something that annoyed me.

07-11-2009, 07:32 PM	#24
sbgctsa Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 554 Senior Member	The truth is that the main story is told by Daniel Sempere, and when you say it goes to a third person, basically is because Zafon gives voice to other characters who are telling their stories, adding more to the construction to this long and very well detailed story. Is not that complex, I could summarize it in just a few lines, but that another skill by the author, who is giving you in a paused way the information you need to keep on building the story and turning the pages very quickly. Well yes, I got that but I thought that was exactly what I felt broke the fourth wall, so to speak. If the entire story is Daniel's, what's all these other characters - some of them dead - doing narrating in his book, saying things Daniel couldn't possibly know? Or is the narrator really Carax, or is Daniel making it up, or...? To me, this is one of the shortcomings of the first person narrator, and it feels like rather than trying to find a way around that problem Zaf?n just ignores that it's a problem at all. It's a deliberate suspension of belief, and I don't think it's very skillful. But it's not a huge problem, just something that annoyed me.
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