jegsynsvinkel

Jegsynsvinkel is a term used in Danish and Norwegian literary analysis to describe the first-person narrative perspective. It combines the pronoun jeg (I) with synsvinkel (viewpoint), signaling that the story is told through the narrator’s own experiences and perceptions. The narrator may recount events, thoughts, and feelings directly, often using a diary-like or intimate voice.

In practice, jegsynsvinkel creates immediacy and emotional closeness, inviting readers to experience events through one person’s subjectivity. This perspective can include inner monologue and personal judgments, while also constraining knowledge to what the narrator knows, remembers, or chooses to reveal. As a result, the perspective is inherently biased and potentially unreliable, since it reflects the narrator’s interpretations rather than an objective account.

Jegsynsvinkel is commonly used in novels, memoirs, diary-like passages, and autobiographical writing, where personal experience and reflection are central. It can also appear in fiction to evoke authenticity or to emphasize character development, identity, and moral outlook. The approach can be straightforward or incorporate streams of consciousness and fragmented memory, depending on the author's stylistic aims.

In analysis, jegsynsvinkel is often contrasted with tredjeperson synsvinkel (third-person perspective) and with works that shift between multiple viewpoints. It raises questions about reliability, memory, and the construction of truth within fiction. The term sits within broader discussions of focalisation and narrative voice, highlighting how who sees and tells shapes meaning.