Following Wayne Booth’s articulation of the notion in The Rhetoric of Fiction (1961), unreliable narration has been a long-standing topic of discussion in literary theory and criticism. Definitions rooted in intra-textual analysis (e.g. Chatman 1978, 1990) have been challenged by cognitive or frame-theory-based approaches, which shift the focus on the readerly experience (e.g. Nünning 1997, 1999), and by critical perspectives centered on cultural-historical developments (e.g. Zerweck 2001).

This seminar aims to provide a space for discussion to scholars interested in the many meanings and functions of unreliable narration in nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century fiction. Possible lines of investigation include:

• What makes a narrator unreliable, and through which textual strategies is unreliability established?


• What is the role of unreliable narration in the development of the novel and the short story over the past two centuries? And what is the relationship between unreliable narration and literary genres (e.g. the historical novel, the fantastic tale)?


• How do geographical, historical, and social contexts influence the construction and reception of unreliable narrators?


• What role does unreliable narration play in representing marginalized voices or challenging dominant narratives?


• How does unreliable narration function as a tool for exploring memory, ideology, and perception, as well as ethical issues related to trust and manipulation?


• What is the relationship between unreliability and irony?

We welcome abstracts for 20-minute presentations, to be submitted through the ACLA portal. Please contact Carlo Arrigoni (carloarrigoni@edu.ulisboa.pt) and Irene Bulla (irene.bulla@gmail.com) with any questions.