stream of consciousness - Notable examples, Trivia

A term introduced by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890) to describe the continuous, random activity of the mind. It has been adopted by writers and critics to refer to the techniques used to register this inner experience in writing and may be traced back to John Locke's notion of ‘the association of ideas’, used for a similar purpose by Sterne in Tristram Shandy (1760–7). Notable early exponents were James Joyce in Ulysses (1922) and Dorothy Richardson in her 12-volume Pilgrimage (1915–67). Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dalloway, 1925; The Waves, 1931) and William Faulkner (The Sound and The Fury, 1931) are two of the most distinguished exponents of the stream-of-consciousness method.

For other uses, see Stream of consciousness (disambiguation).

In literary criticism, stream of consciousness denotes a literary technique which seeks to describe an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes. Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person, and is used chiefly in poetry or drama.

Notable examples

The earliest precedent of any literary work using this technique is possibly Ovid's Metamorphoses in ancient Rome. Sir Thomas Browne's discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658,) with its rapid, unconnected association of objects, geometrical shapes and numerology, may be considered one of the earliest examples of stream of consciousness writing. Some of the works of Gyula Krudy (The Adventures of Sindbad) also employ a technique that can be considered the forerunner of stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness writing gained rapid prominence in the twentieth century, particularly through the writings of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and William Faulkner.

Several notable works employing stream of consciousness are:

Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage (1915-28) James Joyce's Ulysses (in particular Molly Bloom's soliloquy) Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Waves William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying Robert Anton Wilson's & Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Jerzy Andrzejewski's Gates to Paradise

Examples in non-traditional media

The technique is not also specifically confined to literary sources, and has been used in visual mediums. The technique also features in the animated shorts created by Terry Gilliam for the show, which, similarly, use stream of consciousness as means to showcase absurdist humour. An example of this within their work is the famous opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which conversation progresses from a discussion about the master of the castle to African swallows, all due to the characters who speak their thoughts, nonsensical though they may be.

In the realm of audio, hip hop artist Ghostface Killah is well known for his stream of consciousness rapping, a style largely his own that utilizes complicated and constantly shifting subject matter to illustrate his mindset and viewpoint.

Trivia

The technique has been parodied, for example by David Lodge in the final chapter of The British Museum Is Falling Down.