Joe Rose Unreliable Narrator

To what extent do you agree with Jonathon Greenberg’s view that ‘Joe’s genealogical account of unreliability undercuts the very authority of his own intellectual position’?
Refer to the whole novel and the critical anthology in your answer.
The term ‘unreliable narrator’ refers to a narrator who is an ‘invariably invented character who is part of the stories they tell’, this therefore indicates how they are provide a first-hand point of view of the situations which take place. The term was first established in Wayne C. Booth’s ‘The Rhetoric of Fiction’, and due to this view, some may say that due to McEwan’s incorporation of metafiction and a retrospective narrative, Joe Rose, the protagonist, can be viewed as an unreliable narrator. This therefore …show more content…
McEwan designs the accident as a ‘frame-story’, therefore creating a foundation for the remainder of the plot to stem from. Joe begins his recount of the hot air balloon accident by stating that the events were ‘simple to mark’. This description of events seems to undermine the situation, therefore decreasing its overall importance. As the rest of the plot progresses, it becomes clear to the reader that Joe is ‘holding back, delaying the information’, implying that he is purposefully manipulating the events in his favour, using lacuna to his advantage. The hot air balloon accident acts as a pivotal event in the story, acting as the cause of Parry’s infatuation. Joe often uses a metafictional tone in his recount, through phrases such as ‘I don’t recall’ and ‘the event I am about to describe’, through this he breaks the barrier between the reader and the characters, making the events seem increasingly realistic. This works to make the reader aware of the biased narrative, indicating that the narrative may be unreliable. The use of metafiction within the novel is a key aspect of postmodern literature. The concept works in conjunction with Jean-Francois Lyotard, a French postmodern philosopher. Lyotard loosely defined postmodernism as ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’. Metanarratives refer to human progresses such as history or science, and postmodern literature works to criticize these, this is apparent in ‘Enduring Love’ through McEwan’s identification that the book is merely a constructed concept. Joe’s self-reflective tone reminds the reader of this. McEwan uses metafiction to indicate how Joe is at an advantaged ‘intellectual position’ in comparison to the reader, as he is more knowledgeable state in terms of the novel’s upcoming