NarratologyAdvanced
Focalization
The perspective through which narrative information is filtered.
Principle
Who sees is different from who speaks.
Takeaways
- A narrator may tell while a character supplies the field of perception.
- Shifts in focalization change what counts as knowable.
- Control of focalization is control of reader access.
Overview
Focalization names the perceptual and cognitive lens through which narrated events are selected, limited, and interpreted. It is useful because point of view describes the grammar of narration, while focalization describes the source of perception.
Examples
- A third-person chapter narrated in neutral prose but limited to one child's misunderstanding.
- An omniscient narrator briefly focalizes through a servant to expose class blindness.