Yu Wang

This paper examines how shifts in narrative focalization in Angela Carter’s The Erl-King contributes to the text’s ambiguity and contradiction. It analyzes the ambiguous fusion between the narrating-I and the experiencing-I within the first-person narration, revealing the narrator’s psychological conflict and the complexity of female desire. Furthermore, it explores the abrupt transitions between first-person and omniscient narration, which destabilize narrative reliability and blur the boundary between reality and fantasy. While these techniques highlight female agency and resistance, they also suspend the reality of key plot elements, undermining the story’s coherence and political force. The study argues that the ambiguity and contradiction produced by focalization shifts exemplify what critics have termed the “political weakness” in Carter’s narrative strategy, aligning with views that her non-realist style diminishes serious political critique. Thus, the narrative focalization not only enriches textual tension but also exposes the limits of its feminist subversion.

Narrative Focalization; The Erl-King; Angela Carter

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