Analyzing master and counter-narratives in the multilayered narrative communication of literary fiction

Abstract This article analyzes narrative contestation as presented in a novel’s storyworld and narration by an implied author orchestrating meanings in the novel. The aim is to test master and counter-narratives as a methodological concept in the analysis of literary fiction with its specific, multilayered communicative structure. Particularly the fiction-specific concept of implied author as the nexus for interpretation is discussed as a potential key for transporting the theory on master and counter narratives to the fictional realm. The analysis of the Finnish novel Röyhkeys ( Arrogance , 2017) by Ossi Nyman investigates how the theory of master and counter-narratives could be used to illuminate the values of the constructed implied author in literary fiction. The results contribute to the theoretical discussion on master and counter-narratives, particularly on the narrative means to indicate countering and to draw on master narratives. They also indicate the ways in which the communicative layers specific to fiction affect the analysis and interpretation of mastering and countering with narratives.