What is stream of consciousness? Stream-of-consciousness literature generally refers to literary works that emphasize the flow of characters' consciousness, including not only conscious consciousness, but also unconscious, dreamy consciousness and pre-linguistic consciousness.

The word "stream of consciousness" is a psychological vocabulary, which was introduced into the literary world in 19 18 when May Sinclair commented on Dorothy Richardson's novel Journey. Stream-of-consciousness literature is an important branch of modernist literature, and its main achievements are limited to the field of novels, but also in drama and poetry.

The stream of consciousness in novels refers to the imitation of the continuous flow of characters in the narrative process of novels. Specifically, around the seemingly randomly generated and logically loose consciousness center of the characters, all the scenes of the characters' observation, memory and association are intertwined with the feelings, thoughts, emotions and wishes of the characters, thus faithfully and accurately describing the process of the flow of the characters' consciousness.

Several manifestations of stream of consciousness;

talk to oneself

Under the assumption that no one else is listening, a character directly reveals his feelings and thoughts without scruple, which is an "inner monologue". This is the most commonly used technique in stream-of-consciousness literature. Its characteristic is that the author's behavior is completely invisible in the monologue, which is purely the true consciousness of the characters themselves in the novel. This inner monologue is called "direct inner monologue". There is also an "indirect inner monologue", which describes the inner activities of the characters, but the author comes out from time to time to give directions and explanations. This kind of inner monologue usually shows a shallow level of consciousness, which is more coherent and logical, and its language form is more normal than "direct inner monologue".

Internal analysis

The so-called "inner analysis" refers to the narrator or character in the novel's rational analysis and pursuit of his own thoughts and feelings, which is carried out without others listening. The difference between it and "inner monologue" is that it is guided by reason, reasoning or explaining logically and orderly, rather than letting consciousness flow naturally.

free association

The stream of consciousness of the characters does not show any regularity and order. Generally speaking, his consciousness can only stay on a problem/thing for a short time, and things in his mind are often replaced by the sudden appearance of external objective things; Anything that can stimulate the five senses may interrupt the thinking of the characters, stimulate new thoughts and fantasies, and release a series of impressions and feelings.

Space-time montage

Montage is a series of techniques used to express the multiplicity of things in movies, such as "multi-angle", "slow motion", "close-up" and "flashback". Stream of consciousness novelists often use this technique in order to break through the limitation of time and space and show the variability and complexity of stream of consciousness.

Poetry and music

In order to strengthen the symbolic effect, stream-of-consciousness novelists sometimes use poetry and music. They widely use image metaphor, action structure, rhythm, punctuation and even bizarre spelling to imply the feelings, impressions, psychological state or meaning of the characters at a certain moment.