The term ‘unreliable narrator’ is used to describe a character who tells the reader a story which the reader can’t quite trust. These narrators are often involved in the stories they tell. The notion of anyone’s so-called ‘unreliability’ in narrating their own story could be considered problematic - who are we to judge how reliable or not anyone else’s account of their life is? All of us are only ever speaking our own truth and in this sense, we are wholly reliable narrators.

Exercise

Think about an incident that happened in your life and ask someone else who was also present to recount the events as they recall them. Do you remember the story in the same way? How do your accounts differ?