Rethinking fictional narrators

Most readers of literary fictions think that every novel has a controlling fictional narrator---this notion is a staple of high school English classes---yet most viewers of fiction films do not think that every film has an equivalent fictional narrator. This is a puzzling asymmetry in our thinking that requires either explanation or refutation; this project argues that the asymmetry in our thinking is unfounded Chapter 1 provides a reply to the central philosophical considerations in support of effaced controlling fictional narrators in literature and an argument against including effaced narrators in our ontology of fictional things. Chapter 2 demonstrates that controlling fictional narrators can be found in several categories of fiction films that invoke a fictional film that is textually identical to the actual film we watch Chapter 3 examines and rejects a contentious argument that suggests that controlling fictional narrators are ubiquitous in fiction films. The project finds that controlling fictional narrators can be found in both literary works and films and that effaced fictional narrators should be rejected in both media, thus offering a symmetry to our thinking about fictional narrators.