What does this research mean for the field?

Aphra Behn's Oroonoko exemplifies a narrative form called the 'interpersonal field,' where the fictions of a substantive character and a local narrator create a fluid web of relations that allows readers to independently bring balance and coherence to the text. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to explore the interpersonal field in Behn's Oroonoko and how it affects reader engagement.

June 20, 2026

Interpersonal Field: Characters, Narrators, and Readers in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

Key Points

The aim is to explore the interpersonal field in Behn's Oroonoko and how it affects reader engagement.
Theoretical and historical analysis of the interpersonal field and its components.
Examination of characters and narrative forms in Oroonoko.
Discussion of reader interaction with the narrative.
Identified the substantive character and local narrator as key elements of the interpersonal field.
Demonstrated how these elements create fluid narrative zones for diverse reader engagement.

Abstract

Abstract: Using Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave (1688), I delineate a narrative form that I call the interpersonal field: a web of relations that forms when a real narrative world purports to stand independent of the narrative that conjures it. I provide a theoretical and historical account of the interpersonal field and the two fictions crucial to it: the substantive character, who purports to transcend its textual instantiations; and the local narrator, who disclaims creative control over the narrative world. The resulting narratives are fluid zones of engagement, to which readers can bring diverse kinds of balance and coherence.

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