Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique that attempts to capture the natural flow of a character's thoughts. It is often used to create a sense of immediacy and intimacy, and to give the reader a better understanding of the character's inner world.
Stream of consciousness writing is often characterized by the following techniques:
• Free association: The character's thoughts are presented in a loose and associative way, without any clear logical progression.
• Unconventional syntax: The character's thoughts may be presented in ungrammatical or incomplete sentences, or in fragments.
• Sensory details: The character's thoughts may be accompanied by vivid sensory impressions, such as sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.
• Interior monologue: The character's thoughts may be presented in the form of an interior monologue, which is a direct account of the character's thoughts and feelings.
Stream of consciousness writing is often used in modernist and postmodern literature. Some famous examples of stream of consciousness writing include:
★James Joyce's Ulysses
★Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway
★William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury
★Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage
★Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time
Stream of consciousness writing can be a challenging technique for both writers and readers. However, it can also be a very rewarding technique, as it can allow us to access the inner world of characters in a way that is not possible with more traditional narrative techniques.
Here are some resources for learning more about stream of consciousness writing:
> Stream of Consciousness: A Study of the Modern Novel by Gertrud Stein
> The Stream of Consciousness Technique in the Modern Novel by Dorothy Richardson
> Stream of Consciousness: Narrative and the Fluid Mind by Dorrit Cohn
> Stream of Consciousness: A Study of Literary Style by James Joyce
> Stream of Consciousness: A Reader's Guide by James Atherton
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