Review article
Characterization in view of the modernist narrative techniques in Katherine Anne Porter’s short fiction
Dijana Mirković
; Filološki fakultet Univerziteta Crne Gore
Abstract
This article explores a specific approach to characterization of the American writer Katherine Anne Porter with particular emphasis on narrative techniques she employed in her oeuvre. Bearing in mind the fact that Porter developed her artistic skills during modernism, the article considers the conventional and modernist ways of portraying the characters as well as narrative perspectives imposed by modernism as a literary movement. Since the author is famous for her short fiction, we will point out the theoretical foundations of the short story genre and its inherent characteristics, which as such influence the structure and meaning of the short story. This article aims to show how modernist narrative techniques influence developing the characters in Porter's short fiction. Three short stories by the writer are selected as a representative example: “That Tree”, “Magic”, and “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”. Anachrony, the unreliable narrator, the stream of consciousness are only some of the narrative perspectives of modernism Porter uses to build her characters.
Keywords
characterization; narrative techniques; modernism; short story; anachrony; the unreliable narrator; the stream of consciousness
Hrčak ID:
244997
URI
Publication date:
17.10.2020.
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