Narrator and investigator in Roberto Bolaño's detective novel

Synopsis The aim of the thesis is to analyse the category of the narrator in a detective story. This category can be considered firstly as an independent textual element and secondly in its connection to the plotline. In the structure of detective stories, apart from fabula and sujet, we can discern two mutually influential plotlines. One of them is the story of the crime (past), the other is the story of the reconstruction (investigation of the crime). The way they approach each other on different levels (the setting, characters) helps us to understand the structure of the whole story. The reader can actualize the narrative also thanks to the mediator, the mediator between the text and the reader being the narrator. In the detective story Distant Star the narrator is unreliable, which expresses itself in different ways. The unreliability is supported by the fact that it is a subjectivized narration of a character who can be identified as the narrator. 'The narrator - character' does not have a single focalization in this story. He comments (e.g. by use of brackets) upon his previous stands. The point of view of the narration changes along with the character. 'The narrator - character' can at the same time be considered as the author's alter ego. We may encounter the author himself thematized in the text..