Who is Telling the Tale? A Narratological Reading of the Roles of the Narrators in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and Qarun

Narration plays an important role in dramatic works. Classic critics, most prominently Aristotle, have always focused on acting despite narration playing a significant role, often presented through flashbacks, news, brief or long interludes. Brian Richardson, well-known for his articles on narrativity and drama strongly affirms that “drama, like the novel, is and always has been a mixture of mimetic and diegetic representation” (193). Fludernik also asserts that “it is … customary to analyse not only the novel and the film as narrative genres but also drama, cartoons, ballet and pantomime” (4). Drama and film thus combine “seeing” and “narrating” side by side. Narration is often used by playwrights and scriptwriters to shed light on important functions/messages: creating an alienating effect, storytelling, interrupting and/or commenting on the events. Such functions highlight the presence of the narrator who emerges as a figure worthy of analysis given the fact that he takes different forms and names: messenger, chorus, or even a character. In plays and films for young adults, the narrator is of extreme importance as he has a centralised role in introducing and ending the play/film and often intervening for commentary. The narrator’s identity and his vital and diverse roles can be clearly seen in two works for young adults (a film and a play): Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Qarun (2018). These works have been selected because they have not been critically dealt with and because narration is interwoven with the events of the works and is, therefore, strongly present. Moreover, the narrators perform different, but significant roles that, in turn, influence the way the event, story or tale being told. For a thorough reading and analysis of these roles, the paper will employ the principles of narratology as a theoretical framework to approach the selected works in order to highlight the significant roles of the narrators and how they effectively present the events of the plays and film to the young adult audience/viewers.