The first thing we are going to do in order to discover the meaning of the term witness narrator is to know the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape:
-Narrator, first of all, derives from Latin. Exactly it emanates from the word "narrator", which can be translated as "one who tells a story" and which is the result of the union of two lexical components: the verb "narrare", which means "to tell" or "to relate", and the suffix "-dor", which is used to indicate "agent".
-Witness, secondly, it must be emphasized that he has different theories about his aforementioned etymological origin. However, the one that takes on the most prominence is the one that determines that it derives from the Latin "testis", which, in turn, emanates from what the numeral three is.
Someone who tells a story, whether true or fictional, is called a narrator . A witness , on the other hand, is one who witnesses an event at the scene or observes it through a screen, being able to provide testimony about what happened.
A witness narrator , in this framework, is not part of the narrative in question . This means that he is not a character who performs actions or is directly involved in the plot, but rather he tells what he sees .
It can be stated that the witness narrator, therefore, is an observer of the events . He expresses what he had the opportunity to see from his perspective , placing himself outside of what is narrated.
The witness narrator does not star in the story : he is in charge of describing what he notices and, sometimes, of suggesting ideas or hypotheses. Unlike the omniscient narrator , he does not have access to the "interior" of the protagonists nor does he know everything: on the contrary, he faces limitations according to his position and his own perception.
It is important to keep in mind that the witness narrator can acquire different characteristics. Sometimes it is an eyewitness (sees with your own eyes), while in other cases it is an impersonal witness (sees through a camera ). It can also be an informant (details the facts as in an official document).
Other data of interest about the so-called witness narrator are the following:
-It is very common to use the one in the stories that feature the detective Sherlock Holmes.
-A work that can serve as an example of his version of an impersonal witness is the novel "La Colmena" (1950), written by Camilo José Cela (1916 - 2002).
-To better understand his version of the informant, there is nothing better than reading the book "Brodie's Report", which is a story that was published in 1970, which is inspired by "Gulliver's Travels" (1735) and which is made by the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986).
Let's look at an example of a witness narrator: «The young woman was in the park when it started to pour. While those nearby ran for cover, she remained sitting on the grass with a big smile on her face . As can be seen, the narrator limits himself to describing the scene, without acting in it.