Muse & the Marketplace 2018

The writer of personal narrative, whether essays or memoir, is asked to play many roles: simultaneously that of the author, the narrator, and the character. And while those of the author (you, who sits at the keyboard) and the character (younger you, in the scenes you are recollecting) may be easily understood, that of the narrator is both the slipperiest and perhaps the most important. 

The narrator is the one who both makes sense of and problematizes life. As Vivian Gornick writes, “we pull from ourselves the narrator who can shape better than we can the inchoate flow of events into which we are continually being plunged.” Philip Lopate reminds us that the narrator must deliver to the reader what they’ve come to the page for: the sense that an active, searching mind lies behind the storyteller’s inquiry. 

So much for the narrator to do! But who is this crucial construct, and how do you find yours? Together, we’ll discover what a strong narrator can give the writer—and how to define and strengthen your own.