NarratologyAdvanced
Narratee
The listener or reader addressed inside the narrative situation.
Principle
Every act of telling implies someone being told.
Takeaways
- A narratee may be named, implied, or invisible.
- The narratee shapes what the narrator explains, hides, or assumes.
- Confusing narratee with actual reader flattens the narration.
Overview
The narratee is the recipient of a narrative within the fiction's communicative structure. Attending to the narratee clarifies why a narrator chooses certain explanations, defenses, omissions, or forms of intimacy.
Examples
- A confession addressed to a judge has a different narratee than one addressed to a lover.
- A second-person novel may invent a narratee who is not identical to the reader holding the book.