The thesis engages in narrative techniques that are used in contemporary novels Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) by Doris Lessing, The Trick is to Keep Breathing (1989) by Janice Galloway, Milovanje (1998) by Nina Kokelj and Igranje (2012) by Stanka Hrastelj. The literary works with many narrative techniques support the depiction of the protagonists with mental illnesses in the stories. Schizophrenia, depression, anorexia nervosa and alcoholism are shown predominantly through the personalized (and mostly first person) unreliable narrator. The partition of their consciousness is depicted through a fragmented narrative, which in some parts includes lyrization. The narrative is interrupted by inserted fragments from different text genres, in two novels we can also find characteristics of a screenplay. In the novels the inner speech prevails; in Briefing and Igranje we follow the interior monologue, the novel The Trick is written as a stream of consciousness, while the free indirect speech appears in Milovanje. The dialogues in the novels reflect social criticism as people, even doctors, do not comprehend the reality of mental illnesses. The reader is on the contrary empathetic towards the protagonists, since their experience is shown from their own perspective.
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