Involving the Reader : A Narratological View of Elizabethan Prose Fiction

Abstract: This research was conducted to see why some scholars have decided that Elizabethan prose fiction is no longer of value to a modern audience; this essay will apply narratological analyses and theory to examine Elizabethan prose fiction, noting where and how these works build their stories to involve their readers: differently than we would nowadays. The main subjects within narratology used for the analyses are the narrator, the narratee, focalisation, point of view and perspective. The main result found is that the overt intradiegetic narrator and narratee are the leading players when it comes to involving the reader in Elizabethan prose fiction.