The Narrator Category in Narratology and the Evolution of the Concept of Unreliability From a Rhetorical to a Cognitive Approach

Following Wayne C. Booth introduced the term “unreliable narrator” in 1961, the concept has become one of narratology's most productive yet most contested analytical instruments. The rhetorical model that inaugurated the concept defines unreliability as a discrepancy between the narrator's discourse and the norms of the implied author, whereas reader-oriented and cognitive approaches reconceive unreliability as an interpretive construct that emerges when textual signals conflict with readers’ frames, knowledge, and expectations. Drawing on a critical literature review, comparative conceptual analysis, and brief illustrative readings of canonical cases (Poe, Ford, Ishiguro), this article traces the concept’s evolution from its rhetorical foundations through its communicative reformulation to its cognitive reconceptualization. The analysis identifies the paradigms’ divergent assumptions concerning the normative anchor, the model of the reader, and the explanation of interpretive disagreement, and argues that cognitive narratology complements rather than replaces rhetorical theory. A two-level synthesis—unreliability as an authorially designed condition actualized through readers' inferential activity—is advanced as the most comprehensive account. The article contributes a systematic comparative mapping of the debate and specifies directions for empirical, transmedial, and cross-cultural research.