z Finally, another variation on the unreliable narrator is the narrator who
may or may not be unreliable, but whose truthfulness is never revealed
to the reader.
o One of the most interesting recent examples of such a narrator
is in Mohsin Hamid’s 7KH 5HOXFWDQW )XQGDPHQWDOLVW. The
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attended Princeton and worked on Wall Street, but who, after
the events of 9/11, has found himself in reluctant sympathy
with the goals of the terrorists.
o The novel is framed as a long monologue, in which the unnamed
narrator tells his life story to an American listener. What makes
this narration so unusual is that there are increasing hints that
the narrator may be a terrorist and that his listener may be an
American intelligence agent sent to kill him. The potential
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this unsettling and thought-provoking book.Baldwin, *LRYDQQL¶V5RRP.
Chandler, 7KH/RQJ*RRGE\H.
Fitzgerald, 7KHUHDWDWVE.
Hamid, 7KH5HOXFWDQW)XQGDPHQWDOLVW.
Melville, 0RE\'LFN.
Robinson, +RXVHNHHSLQJ.
Twain, 7KH$GYHQWXUHVRI+XFNOHEHUU\)LQQ.
Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.”
Suggested Reading