Narrator noticeably different from Author

[King]

Would you find it odd/uncomfortable to read a story with a first person female protagonist/narrator but the author of the story is male?  Similarly, if the author was white but the narrator was supposed to be a minority? Or vice versa in both cases.

I don't know of any examples of this.  Actually, for the most part the narrator is usually male or 3rd person in the books I've read.  The only exception I can think of right now is To Kill A Mockingbird, but that was written by a woman.

Just curious.

[minionofmidas]

Would you find it odd/uncomfortable to read a story with a first person female protagonist/narrator but the author of the story is male?

No.
Some people seem to have that problem with the relevant portions of Franzen's Freedom.

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Even 3rd person narrators frequently tell events largely from the perspective of one character (if frequently different characters in different parts of the book), so the difference is slighter than you think.

[J. J.]

I think if it is first person, yes, I might find it distracting.  A third person, no.

I'm only thinking of Marlow in Heart of Darkness, who tells the story; he is a male.  That is framed by another unnamed narrator.  Marlow would be distracting as a female, but the other unnamed narrator could be a female.

[Gustaf]

Would you find it odd/uncomfortable to read a story with a first person female protagonist/narrator but the author of the story is male?

No.
Some people seem to have that problem with the relevant portions of Franzen's Freedom.

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Even 3rd person narrators frequently tell events largely from the perspective of one character (if frequently different characters in different parts of the book), so the difference is slighter than you think.

Really? I didn't.

[patrick1]

Just off the top of my head- Faulkner changed narrators frequently within the same novels.  These could be mentally handicapped, men and women. Further, One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest and more recently Atonement had narrators quite different from the author.

[minionofmidas]

Would you find it odd/uncomfortable to read a story with a first person female protagonist/narrator but the author of the story is male?

No.
Some people seem to have that problem with the relevant portions of Franzen's Freedom.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Even 3rd person narrators frequently tell events largely from the perspective of one character (if frequently different characters in different parts of the book), so the difference is slighter than you think.

Really? I didn't.

Yeah, me neither. It's something I noticed in reviews.

Just off the top of my head- Faulkner changed narrators frequently within the same novels.  These could be mentally handicapped, men and women. Further, One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest and more recently Atonement had narrators quite different from the author.

Cuckoo's Nest (the novel) has a cameo appearance by the author, btw.

[Paul Kemp]

Would you find it odd/uncomfortable to read a story with a first person female protagonist/narrator but the author of the story is male?

Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me is written in such a way. It's a somewhat interesting perspective.