Facets of Focalization
Facets of focalization
In the beginning of this chapter, I stated that the purely visual sense of 'focalization' is too narrow. The time has come to discuss the various facets of the phenomenon and to show how the external/internal criterion manifests itself in each. The degree of persistence will be taken up when relevant.8
The perceptual facet
Perception (sight, hearing, smell, etc.) is determined by two main coordinates: space and time.
SPACE
'Translated' into spatial terms the external/internal position of the focalizer takes the form of a bird's-eye view v. that of a limited observer. In the first, the focalizer is located at a point far above the object(s) of his perception. This is the classical position of a narrator-focalizer, yielding either a panoramic view or a 'simultaneous' focalization of things 'happening' in different places. Panoramic views are frequent in the beginning or end of a narrative or of one of its scenes
TIME
External focalization is panchronic in the case of an unpersonified focalizer, and retrospective in the case of a character focalizing his own past. On the other hand, internal focalization is synchronous with the information regulated by the focalizer. In other words, an external focalizer has at his disposal all the temporal dimensions of the story (past, present and future), whereas an internal focalizer is limited to the 'present' of the characters
The psychological facet
Whereas the perceptual facet has to do with the focalizer's sensory range, the psychological facet concerns his mind and emotions. As the previous sentence suggests, the determining components are again two: the cognitive and the emotive orientation of the focalizer towards the focalized.
THE COGNITIVECOMPONENT
Knowledge, conjecture, belief, memory - these are some of the terms of cognition. Conceived of in these terms, the opposition between external and internal focalization becomes that between unrestricted and restricted knowledge.
THE
In the beginning of this chapter, I stated that the purely visual sense of 'focalization' is too narrow. The time has come to discuss the various facets of the phenomenon and to show how the external/internal criterion manifests itself in each. The degree of persistence will be taken up when relevant.8
The perceptual facet
Perception (sight, hearing, smell, etc.) is determined by two main coordinates: space and time.
SPACE
'Translated' into spatial terms the external/internal position of the focalizer takes the form of a bird's-eye view v. that of a limited observer. In the first, the focalizer is located at a point far above the object(s) of his perception. This is the classical position of a narrator-focalizer, yielding either a panoramic view or a 'simultaneous' focalization of things 'happening' in different places. Panoramic views are frequent in the beginning or end of a narrative or of one of its scenes
TIME
External focalization is panchronic in the case of an unpersonified focalizer, and retrospective in the case of a character focalizing his own past. On the other hand, internal focalization is synchronous with the information regulated by the focalizer. In other words, an external focalizer has at his disposal all the temporal dimensions of the story (past, present and future), whereas an internal focalizer is limited to the 'present' of the characters
The psychological facet
Whereas the perceptual facet has to do with the focalizer's sensory range, the psychological facet concerns his mind and emotions. As the previous sentence suggests, the determining components are again two: the cognitive and the emotive orientation of the focalizer towards the focalized.
THE COGNITIVECOMPONENT
Knowledge, conjecture, belief, memory - these are some of the terms of cognition. Conceived of in these terms, the opposition between external and internal focalization becomes that between unrestricted and restricted knowledge.
THE