Episode XIII: The Judge Told Them A Story

Blood Meridian and Narrative Theory

I. Internal and External Focalization

In his book on narratology and Proust—Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method—literary theorist Gérard Genette appropriates the term focalizer (from photography) in his discussion of Third Person point of view. Genette insists that while a Narrator speaks, a Focalizer sees.

This concept proves useful to an understand…