Impact Factor : 6.225 
PAPER ID:IJIM/V.III(I)/35-38/8
AUTHOR: Dr. Seema Gupta
TITLE: LAYERED VOICES: A NARRATOLOGICAL STUDY OF R.K. NARAYAN’S THE GUIDE
ABSTRACT : Narratology is the study of narratives—how stories are told. It looks at the structure, techniques, and methods used by authors to present their stories. Instead of focusing only on what the story is about, narratology asks: Who is telling the story?; From what point of view?; In what order are events presented?; Is the narrator reliable or biased?; Are there multiple perspectives or just one? Layered voices mean that more than one narrative voice or perspective is used in the story. These layers can be: Different narrators (like first-person and third-person), Different time frames (past and present), Contrasting viewpoints (such as personal vs. societal), Multiple characters sharing their versions of events. When these voices are layered, it adds depth, complexity, and richness to the story. It also allows readers to see things from different angles.
It means analyzing how a story is told using multiple voices or perspectives and studying how this affects the way we understand the story. Moreover, studying layered voices helps us understand the psychology of characters, the themes of the story (like identity, truth, transformation), the author’s technique and artistic choices and how readers are guided to interpret the story. The present paper “Telling the Tale Twice: Narrative Duality in R.K. Narayan’s “The Guide“analyses the novel in this context. It explores Raju’s character from different angles; questions what is true and what is just Raju’s perspective and see how his identity changes depending on who is speaking or being described.
KEYWORDS: Flashback, Memory, Heterodiegetic, Homodiegetic, Focalization, Narrator.