Narrative deviations : the role of the unnatural narrator in James Hannaham’s delicious foods (2015)‎

Abstract EN

Based on the critical concepts of unnatural narrative theory, this paper investigates narrative deviations and their functions in James Hannaham‘s novel delicious foods (2015).

according to unnatural narrative theorists, aspects of unnaturalness in realistic fiction can be traced in four elements : narrators, characters, time, and space.

unnatural scenarios in a narrative can be interpreted through certain reading strategies.

more specifically, this paper focuses on investigating the aspects and roles of the unnatural narrator in Hannaham‘s narrative which has several third-person and first-person narrators.

the most fascinating among those narrators is an unnatural object-narrator, namely cocaine, which narrates almost half of the novel.

although cocaine is an inanimate object, it is both first-person narrator and focalizer in the narrative.

moreover, though a first-person narrator naturally does not have access to other characters‘ thoughts and other places, cocaine can easily seep into the minds of characters and move freely among locations.

applying the reading strategies of unnatural narrative theory, the current paper interprets the meaning and function of these narrative deviations, showing how they are eventually conventionalized by blending cognitive frames.