Narrative Techniques in Historical Fiction: A Study of Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger

In her historical novel, Sarah Waters has made use of the narrative techniques of the unreliable narrator and the psychological state of the uncanny to rewrite history and cast a new light on previously overlooked historical events. The Little Stranger has fully resorted to narratological techniques to forge new bonds with the readers and invite them to contemplate the complications of historical events and the intricate twists and turns that build the present in a certain way. The present paper examines the way people find themselves trapped in a time loop, forever imprisoned in the past and unable to live in the present or move on to the future, and how certain consequences leave permanent scars that can never heal. This research has used the methodological framework expounded by Wayne Booth, William Riggan and the history of the psychological significance of the concept of uncanny as explained by the German psychiatrist, Ernst Jentsch, and later Freud and Lacan to analyze the novel and reveal Sarah Waters’ innovative narrative techniques in the retelling of historical stories.

Keywords:

Sarah Waters , Historical Novel , Unreliable Narrator , Uncanny