ABSTRACT
As we have seen in the previous chapter, the very definition of various forms of speech and thought representation often depends on the establishment of the ‘voice’ of the represented speaker. If this is something a character could conceivably have said to her-/ himself, one will argue that the passage is free indirect discourse; if the thoughts could not reasonably be part of the character’s own verbal repertoire, one concludes this is the narrator’s description of his or her psyche-hence psycho-narration or speech report/ indirect discourse. As has been noted frequently, passages treating of a character’s ignorance are by definition psycho-narration: She ignored that/did not know that…always implies a narrator’s superior perspective (Stanzel, 1984b: 197; Rimmon-Kenan 1983:83).1
