Literary Style: Stream of Consciousness

Stream- Of-Consciousness, a phrase used by Alexander Bain in 1855 had its earliest beginnings in Psychology, typically dealing with aspects of the mind. It was considered a mixture of all levels of awareness: unending flow of sensation, thought, memory, associations, and reflections on various subjects.

The term itself would later be coined by American Psychologist William James in his book The Principles of Psychology, written in 1890. The term was used by several writers in forms of writing experimentation, primarily in literature’s modern age. Some writers who used it include: Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce, Thomas Wolfe, and William Faulkner.

One precursor to stream-of-consciousness writing in literature was interior monologue. Laurence Sterne and Marcel Proust used the interior monologue before it really became a standard in writing; but they were on the same track that William James defined in his Principle of Psychology.

Sterne's book Tristram Shandy written 1759-1767 contained his view of writing which was: “it is not actions, but opinions about actions which disturb men.” (Handbook 458). It was “a means at least of bringing evil to the surface, of demonstrating how much we are bound in our mental processes by memories, reactions, and obsessions.” (British Writers, 20).

The modern stream-of-consciousness novel: focused on the workings in the mind of one of the characters in a story, the “technique of disintegration,” and the idea of “flouting time sense” (B.W. 24). The novelists who used it felt that it was important to know that people live inside their heads much more than actually living out in the world; and that the world of the mental and emotional is not connected in a smooth flow of thought from one thing to another.

E.M. Forster, in his book of short stories: Monday or Tuesday highlights the disruption of time. His was the first revolt against the standard form of writing that was a great part of the Victorian Age.

Time constraints made it difficult to push for new forms of writing, and it left no room for experimentation or creativity. With this writer's revolt, literature in England took off in two different directions: “a literature of action, and a literature of recollection” (British Writers, 121).

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), still stands as the reigning queen of stream-of-consciousness. She had much to say on the subject. Beginning with her quote: “the first use of modern writing...is to hold a mirror up to the confusions of the age—or...a number of mirrors” (British Writers, 23); to “the use of literature is to show men and women amid the splendor of their environment—and yet, in a moment of passion, of betrayal, of reality, reduced to their essential humanity: to the greatness, the violence, and the bitterness of the lonely heart. (British Writers, 24).

She was always looking for that “Integral expression of life,” and felt that “there is not just one kind of truth; there are two. There is the truth of reason, and the truth of imagination. Together they make up reality.” “Neither the rational nor the intuitive can get on without the other.” (British Writers, 24).

Bibliography

Drabble, Margaret (Ed.). The Oxford Companion to English Literature.

Oxford, England. Oxford University Press. 1985. Fifth Ed.

Heinssen, Barbara A. A Handbook to Literature. USA. Macmillan Publishing Company. 1986.

Scott-Kilvert, Ian (Ed.). British Writers. New York. Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1984. Vols. VI and VII