In literature and storytelling, a '''point of view''' is the related experience of the narrator &mdash; not that of the author.  Authors rarely, in fiction and non-fiction, insert or inject their own voice, as this challenges the suspension of disbelief.  Texts encourage the reader to identify with the narrator, not with the author.  

Literary narration can occur from the first-person, second-person, or third-person point of view.  In a novel, the first person is commonly used: "I saw, We did,", etc. In an encyclopedia or textbook narrators often work in the third-person: "that happened, the king died", etc. For additional vagueness, imprecision, and detachment, some writers employ the passive voice: "it is said that the president was compelled to be heard...".

The ability to use points of view effectively provides one measure of someone's writing ability. The writing mark schemes used for composition and effect of the text.

Most novels are narrated in "third person omniscient", or in "third person limited". A third person omniscient narrator can shift focus from character to character with knowledge of everyone's thoughts and of events of which no single character would be aware. The third person limited point of view picks one character and follows him around for the duration of the book. The narrator may be more observant than the character, but is limited to what that one character could theoretically observe. In a minor variant on third person limited, narrator may "travel" with a single character, but the point-of-view conventions may be extended to allow the narrator access to other characters' thoughts and motivations.  Another common variant is for a novel to have different third person limited points of view in different sections.  Thus, Chapter One might follow Jane, while Chapter Two follows Dick, and Chapter Three follows their dog.

==Third person==

Third person limited is when the narrator is an outsider who sees into the mind of one character.  This style became the most popular narrative perspective during the twentieth century. Third person limited is sometimes called the "over the shoulder" perspective; it shows the story as though the narrator could only describe events that could be perceived by a viewpoint character. It can be used very objectively, showing what is actually happening without the filter of the protagonist's personality, thus allowing the author to reveal information that the protagonist doesn't know or realize. However, some authors use an even narrower and more subjective perspective, as though the viewpoint character were narrating the story; this is dramatically very similar to the first person, allowing in-depth revelation of the protagonist's personality, but uses third-person grammar. Some writers will shift perspective from one viewpoint character to another.

In third person limited the narrator is outside of the story and tells the story from only one character's view. The character's thoughts are revealed through the narrator. The reader learns the events of the narrative through the perceptions of the chosen character. Third person limited uses pronouns such as he, she, they, their, herself, himself, themselves, etc. 

Historically, the "third person omniscient" perspective was more common. This is the tale told from the point of view of the storyteller who knows all the facts. An example of this would be "little did he know" when told by that third person, such as a narrator. The primary advantage is that it injected the narrator's own perspective and reputation into the story, creating a greater sense of objectivity for the story. The disadvantage of this mode is that it creates more distance between the reader and the story. A variation is where the narrator is a character in the story; a small amount of the story might be told in first person.

Some make the distinction between "third person omniscient" and "universal omniscient;" the difference being that in universal omniscient, the narrator reveals information that the characters do not have.  This is also called "Little Did He Know" writing as in "Little did he know he'd be dead by morning."  Currently this style is out of favor. 

There is also a "Third  person objective" perspective which tells a story without detailing any characters' thoughts and instead gives an objective point of view.  This point of view can be described as "a fly on the wall" and is preferred in newspaper articles.

==First person==

First person narration is used somewhat frequently. The first-person point of view sacrifices omniscience and omnipresence for a greater intimacy with one character. It allows the reader to see what the focus character is thinking; it also allows that character to be further developed through his own style in telling the story.  First-person narrations may be told like third person ones; on the other hand, the narrator may be conscious of telling the story to a given audience, perhaps at a given place and time, for a given reason.  In extreme cases, the first-person narration may be told as a story within a story, with the narrator appearing as a character in the frame story.

In a first person narrative, the narrator is a character in the story. This character takes actions, makes judgments and has opinions and biases. In this case the narrator gives and withholds information based on its own viewing of events. It is an important task for the reader to determine as much as possible about the character of the narrator in order to decide what "really" happens. This type of narrator is usually noticeable for its ubiquitous use of the first-person pronoun, "I".
''Example:''
<blockquote>"I could picture it.  I have a rotten habit of picturing the bedroom scenes of my friends.  We went out to the Cafe Napolitain to have an aperitif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard."  from ''The Sun Also Rises'' by Ernest Hemingway.  The narrator is protagonist Jake Barnes.
</blockquote>
In very rare cases, stories are told in first person ''plural'', that is, using "we" rather than "I".  Examples are the short stories "Twenty-Six Men and a Girl" by Anthem" by Ayn Rand, and the novels ''The Virgin Suicides'' by Jeffrey Eugenides, ''During the Reign of the Queen of Persia'' by Joan Chase, ''Our Kind'' by Kate Walbert, ''I, Robot'' by Isaac Asimov, and ''Then We Came to the End'' by Joshua Ferris.<ref></ref>

The narrator can be the protagonist (e.g., Gulliver in ''Gulliver's Travels''), someone very close to him, who is privy to his thoughts and actions (Dr. Watson in ''Sherlock Holmes''), or an ancillary character who has little to do with the action of the story (Nick Carraway in ''The Great Gatsby'').  A narrator can even be a character relating the story second-hand, such as Lockwood in ''Wuthering Heights''.

The first person narrator is the type most obviously distinct from the author.  It is a character in the work, who must follow all of the rules of being a character, even during its duties as narrator.  For it to know anything, it must experience it with its senses, or be told about it.  It can interject its own thoughts and opinions, but not those of any other character, unless clearly told about those thoughts.  

In autobiographical fiction, the first person narrator is the character of the author (with varying degrees of accuracy).  The narrator is still distinct from the author and must behave like any other character and any other first person narrator.  Examples of this kind of narrator include Jim Carroll in ''The Basketball Diaries'' and Kurt Vonnegut in ''Timequake''. In some cases, the narrator is writing a book ("the book in your hands"), therefore it has most of the powers and knowledge of the author.

Die '''Erzählperspektive''' eines erzählenden Textes (Erzähltheorien auch zahlreiche Modelle von Erzählperspektiven. Die Erzählperspektive kann von der Erzählhaltung unterschieden werden. 

In der Erzähltheorie ist die Erzählperspektive meist eine von mehreren Kategorien, die man zur Analyse eines erzählenden Textes braucht. Stanzel unterscheidet etwa zwischen Person, Modus und Perspektive.
Der Begriff der Erzählperspektive betrifft das Verhältnis des Erzählers zu der Hauptfigur und der erzählten Welt, der Autor spielt in diesem Zusammenhang keine Rolle.

Bei einer Ich-Erzählung ist die Frage nach der Erzählperspektive scheinbar leichter zu klären. Diese betonte Subjektivität markiert dann einen eingeschränkten Standpunkt, denn ein Ich-Erzähler kann nicht alles über die erzählte Welt wissen. Demgegenüber hat ein auktorialer, also allwissender Erzähler unbegrenzten Zugang zu allen Informationen der Erzählten Welt. In vielen Abhandlungen wird unter Perspektive sowohl räumliche und zeitliche Distanz, als auch Subjektivität und Objektivität, also nicht nur Zugang zu Informationen sondern auch Wertung verstanden.
Trennschärfer ist daher das Modell von Genette, der strikt unterscheidet zwischen  Modus (Wer sieht) und Stimme (Wer spricht).

Im Englischen wird die Erzählperspektive auch als point-of-view bezeichnet. Der point-of-view in der Literaturwissenschaft muss dabei aber deutlich vom filmischen Point-of-View-Shot unterschieden werden, denn dieser bezeichnet eine Einstellung, die den Blick einer Figur wiedergibt, in der Literatur dagegen die Perspektive für ganze Szenen oder den ganzen Text.

Der Begriff "Perspektive" ist natürlich eine Metapher, denn in der Literatur wird nur mit Worten erzählt. Das Medium Literatur kann nicht zeigen (showing) sondern nur erzählen (telling). Durch eine detailgenaue Schilderung einer Umgebung kann also beim Leser der Eindruck entstehen, als "sehe er es selbst", was Roland Barthes den Wirklichkeitseffekt nennt und von Genette als Mimesis-Illusion bezeichnet wird (weil sich Mimesis nach Platon  nur auf die Nachahmung von wörtlicher Rede beziehen kann)(Genette, S. 118). 

== Ansätze ==
Die Kunst des Erzählens ist es gerade, mit unklaren Standpunkten zu spielen. Daher können Versuche, Erzählperspektiven einzuordnen und mit Modellen und Typologien festzuhalten, immer nur teilweise gelingen. Als Verständnishilfe können solche Abstraktionen allerdings sinnvoll sein.

=== Erzählperspektive bei Stanzel===
Ein verbreitetes Schema ist das ''typologische Modell der Erzählsituationen'' von Franz K. Stanzel. Es unterscheidet, ob Erzählerfiguren eine Innen- oder Außenperspektive innehaben (Perspektive), ob der Erzähler mit der Figur identisch ist oder nicht (Person)und ob eine Erzählerfigur deutlich in erscheinung tritt (Modus).
Auf der Ebene des Modus unterscheidet er daher auch den Erzähler von einer Reflektorfigur, womit meistens die Hauptfigur gemeint ist, aus deren Perspektive sich die Geschichte entfaltet. Ein konkretes Beispiel, dass sich in Stanzels Typenkreis sehr nahe an dem idealtypischen Modell der Personalen Erzählung orientiert, wäre die erlebte Rede, in der keine Erzählerstimme von der Figurenrede zu unterscheiden ist. Hier wäre der Erzähler zwar nicht mit der Figur identisch, wie in der Ich-Erzählung, hätte aber eine Innenperspektive.

=== Erzählperspektive bei Genette ===
Gérard Genette unterscheidet, im Unterschied zu Stanzel, zwischen Modus (Wer sieht) und Stimme (Wer spricht). Die Begriffe Distanz und Fokalisierung bezieht sich dabei  auf den Modus, der Begriff der Diegese auf die Stimme.
Die Fokalisierung bezeichnet, was der Erzähler über die Figur und die Erzählte Welt weiß, die Distanz (oder Nähe) lässt sich anhand der Art der Rede (direkte Rede, indirekte Rede usw.) ableiten.