Applying Schmid’s Model of Text Interference to the Narratological Analysis of Ruth Berger’s Novel “Gretchen”

Abstract

By the concept of text interference Wolf Schmid implies the phenomenon of each character’s subjective speech penetrating the very speech of the narrator, the expression thus comprising interference between parts of the text as produced by the characters and those created by the narrator him/herself. He develops a model consisting of eight criteria, which help to distinguish the text of the narrator from that of the characters. The aim of the paper is to implement this model to the analysis of the narrative techniques, i.e. the techniques of conveying speech and thoughts of both the characters and the narrator, used in Gretchen, a contemporary German novel, written by Ruth Berger. In the analysis, special attention is paid to the categories of modus (focalisation) and voice as defi ned by Genette’s theory of narrative discourse.