Stream of Consciousness

by Meghan Allen



Defined:

          Stream of Consciousness in literature involves the author’s attempt to capture the thought processes that go on in a character’s mind. There are different types of stream of consciousness, mainly narrated stream of consciousness and quoted stream of consciousness. Narrated stream of consciousness is made up of various forms, including psycho-narration, which is used to describe the state of a character psychologically, as well as free indirect style. Quoted stream of consciousness describes the characters verbal thoughts, also known as interior monologue. The stream of thought may be verbal thoughts, images or other sensory information. Stream of consciousness writing is not confined to linear narration and often skips through time and space, as a person’s thoughts and memories can do. Stream of Consciousness allowed writers a way to show readers the inner workings of their characters.

Origins in psychology:

     William James is credited with coming up with the idea of people’s conscious thoughts being like a stream instead of just one idea after another. He claimed that ideas blended and existed at one and the same time. His work The Principles of Psychology (1890) delves into physiology, psychology and philosophy.

Origins in literature:

     May Sinclair, a.k.a. Mary Amelia St. Clair, is credited with transferring use of the idea from psychology to literature. She was a British author, an active suffragist and a modernist critic. She reviewed works by T.S. Eliot and Dorothy Richardson. She introduced stream of consciousness in her review of Richardson’s Pilgrimage.

Stream of Consciousness-- selected authors and works:



Works Cited

John Mepham, Kingston University. “Stream of Consciousness.” The Literary Encyclopedia. 17 Oct 2003. The Literary Dicionaty Company. 8 March 2008. http://www.liencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1062

“May Sinclair.” The New York Review of Books. 10 March 2008. http://www.nybooks.com/nyrb/authors/9528

“Stream of consciousness.” Esther Lombardi. About.com. 8 March 2008. http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/g/aa_stream.htm

“Stream of consciousness writing.” 5 March 2008. Wikipedia. 5 March 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_writing

“Stream of consciousness (psychology).” 22 Feb 2008. Wikipedia. 5 March 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_%28psychology%29

“William James.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 10 March 2008. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/