Authorial Voice in "Storyteller" and Northanger Abbey

Nicole’s post inspired me to consider the role of authorial voice as it relates to viewers. As Nicole aptly stated, Austen uses narrative intrusion to teach her readers how to understand novels. Andrew is similarly forced to see his mistakes and learn how to reconcile his delusional fantasy with reality. However, instead aligning Andrew with the reader – someone who is acted upon – I’d like to argue that he is very much like Austen in that he teaches the viewers to re-evaluate and reconsider gothic conventions and character roles. He not only learns a lesson, but teaches one too.

Throughout “Storyteller,” Andrew maintains a distinct authorial presence – opening the episode by saying, “join me gentle viewer.” His opinion, just like Austen’s, is blatantly expressed as another level of the narrative. He is swift to point out that people play certain roles – the heroine, the bad guy, etc. – and these roles are dramatized in the episode through glorifying flashbacks. At one point he even comments, “unfortunately vampires have jobs to do.” This quotation illustrates the seemingly static parts characters play. However, as Lauren pointed out in her post, many of the characters (particularly Buffy and Catherine) resist their roles. Although “Storyteller” and Northanger Abbey conclude with happy storybook endings, these ends are achieved with uncertainty, fear, and vulnerability.

I think that Andrew’s unreliable narrative intrusion forces the viewer to think, “what is really behind a story?” Is it truth? I’m not convinced. Thus, we cannot just be idle viewers or reader, accepting an authorial voice. Yes, it is possible to agree with the narrator, such as Austen, but this agreement comes from an internal and reflective struggle within us that causes us to make our own judgments. In having strong authorial presences, both “Storyteller” and Northanger Abbey force us to look at, and think about, what we are told and what we are actually seeing so that we can learn to have our own opinions and understanding of what is actually behind a story.