Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment: Unreliable Narrator 1 key example

Unreliable Narrator
Explanation and Analysis—The Storyteller :

In this story, Hawthorne calls attention to the role of the narrator, who is revealed to be quite unreliable, leading the audience to question the veracity of the tale being told. Much of the language of the story highlights the act of storytelling. Rather than simply stating that Dr. Heidegger’s study is a strange place, the narrator qualifies the description of the setting with the phrase, “If all stories are true,” suggesting that the narrator isn't even certain what, exactly, Dr. Heidegger's study is like—in other words, it's unclear whether or not the narrator has actually ever been there.