Focalization

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Focalization is a name that literary theorists use to refer to a certain mode of speaking, in which a speaker uses a word not entirely appropriate to the persona of the speaker, but appropriate to some other relevant persona.

We see this in everyday life. For example, an offensive male may say to a feminist: “Why are you reading that feminist rubbish?” The feminist may respond: “I like this feminist rubbish.” Now, the word rubbish is not appropriate to the persona of the feminist, but it is appropriate to the persona of the offensive male.

How is focalization different from point-of-view? Point-of-view is when a story is told in the voice of a particular character. Focalization, on the other hand, is when an omniscient narrator is telling the whole story, but here and there, we find certain words that make sense only from the perspective of a certain character.

[edit] Example

In the Aeneid, Vergil calls Juno saeua (cruel) in 1:4. This would make sense in the eyes of Aeneas (whom Juno hurts), but it would not make sense in the eyes of the Carthaginians (whom Juno helps).

Don Fowler writes that ancient commentators on Vergil, such as Servius, often have reading strategies similar to those that we moderns do, even if these ancient commentators ultimately reject them. Thus, we often read text as focalized. Servius, too, entertains the possibility that saeuae could mean "cruel", and be a focalization placed in the eyes of the Trojans; however, he rejects this reading, and decides to understand saeuae as meaning "great".