The I-narrator (Kerfol)

The I-narrator is of unknown gender, origin and age (For better readability, I will refer to the narrator as "he"). The narrator is new to Brittany and a friend of Herve de Lanrivain, who dropped him off at a crossroad near Kerfol.[1] It can be assumed that he is a wealthy person, since the reason of his visit was a suggestion to buy Kerfol.[2] While the origin of the narrator is unknown, he might be French, or at least know the language, since Lanrivain is warning him that the Breton peasants don't understand French, but still pretend to.[3]

The narrator has some great knowledge of botany. Although, he doesn’t know the name of the trees in Kerfol's avenue, he describes them really precisely and uses examples of other tree species to further analyze them.[4] You can also notice that, when he is exploring the garden of Kerfol, where he is able to define every plant he is seeing, like fuchsias or hydrangeas.[5]

The narrator is, as he states himself, also interested in architecture and "the invisible".[6]

He is the one that discovers the ghost dogs of Kerfol and is able to name some of their breeds, not all of them, but he notices that the dogs behave weird.[7]

The narrator can be expected to be quite literate, since he manages to read the, assumingly difficult, book about the trial of Anne de Barrigan for a whole night.[8]

The I-narrator seems to know quite a bit about the 17^th century. He identifies the painting of Anne, in Lanrivain's study, as a painting that could have been made by a pupil of Francois Clouet.[9] At the end of the story, he also recognizes M. Arnauld d' Andilly. When Lanrivain shows him the portrait of his ancestor, the narrator also seems to know Philippe de Champaigne and that Herve wears a dress of the Jansenists on it. In the last sentence, he states that he envies Herve for probably knowing Blaise Pascal.[10]

So either the narrator is well informed and interested the 17^th century in general, or in the Jansenist movement, since, except for Francois Clouet, they were all connected to Jansenism.

[1] Wharton, "Kerfol," 329.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Wharton, "Kerfol," 330-331.

[6] Wharton, "Kerfol," 330.

[7] Wharton, "Kerfol," 330-332.

[8] Wharton, "Kerfol," 332-333.

[9] Wharton, "Kerfol," 333.

[10] Wharton, "Kerfol," 340.