Download Twentieth Century Narrative

20th Century Fiction
The style of modern writers was influenced by discoveries made by thinkers in the area of
Psychology. Techniques that are now common, such as stream of consciousness and
interior monologue, were a novelty, and sometimes a shocking novelty, when they were
first used. Most important writers have used them since the 1930’s.
http://modernism.research.yale.edu/index.php
Stream of Consciousness
This term was first used by William James in his Principles of Psychology
(1890).
As a narrative technique, it developed toward the end of the 19th century,
and is often confused with interior monologue.
It is employed to evoke the psychic life of a character and depict (present,
describe) subjective as well as objective reality.
In Literature it generally refers to the presentation of a character’s thoughts,
feelings, reactions, etc., on an approximate preverbal level and with little or
no direct comment or explanation by the author. It describes mental life at
the borderline of conscious thought, and is characterized by:
 Devices of association
 Reiteration of word-motifs or symbol-motifs
 Apparent incoherence
 The reduction or elimination of normal syntax (sentence structure)
and punctuation to simulate the free flow of the character’s mental
processes.
The underlying concept is that ideas and consciousness are fluid and
shifting, rather than fixed and logically organized. The concept of stream of
consciousness contributed to a new approach to the novel.
Interior Monologue
It refers to a presentation of thoughts more consciously controlled and on a level
closer to direct verbalization, as if one were dialoguing with oneself. Evidently, the
syntactic structure is more complete and organized.
Freudian theories of the conscious and unconscious mind, and the Bergsonian
concept of time as duration and of consciousness as an indivisible flux also gave
impetus to this new approach to the novel.
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was a French philosopher who influenced modern
literature significantly. He basically had faith that direct intuition is a means of
attaining knowledge. He opposed experimental and rationalistic methods of science
giving validity to an antirational and mystical approach to understanding. He
believed time should not be measured scientifically or mechanically. The reason was
that for the human being time does not operate in segments but in a continuous flow
in which past and present are inseparable to the consciousness of the memory.
James Joyce (Ireland, 1882-1941)
Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet.
One of the greatest literary talents of the 20th Century.
Known for his revolutionary innovations in the art of the novel:
 New narrative techniques, like the use of interior monologue and
stream of consciousness.
 Use of unique language (invented words, puns and complex
allusions)
 Presents complex network of symbolic parallels drawn from
mythology, history and literature.
 Presented organic functions (body functions) with objectivity
Other characteristics:
 Described life in Dublin in great detail
 Psychological penetration
 Robust humor
 Sensitive to auditory impressions
 He rejected his background as an Irish Catholic, but paradoxically,
this was the inspiration for most of his writing and marked his style.
Initially, before being imitated, his work was denounced as obscure,
unintelligible, nonsensical and obscene.
In his mature work he expressed his inner world through a network of
complex internal echoes and allusions.
He wrote Ulysses in seven years and Finnegan’s Wake in seventeen years
because of his perfectionism.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1923/yeatslecture.html
Virginia Woolf (England, 1882-1941)
http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/Virginia_Woolf
English novelist, critic and essayist who belonged to the Bloomsbury Group
(Former Cambridge students who gathered regularly).
Experimenter and innovator in novel writing, especially in her use of the
interior monologue and stream of consciousness.
A contemporary of James Joyce.
Probably influenced by Henri Bergson.
She eventually had a nervous breakdown.
Characteristics of her novels:
 Poetic and symbolic quality
 Delicate and sensitive style
 Psychological penetration
 Evocation of place and mood
 Background of historical and literary reference.
 Concerned with time, its passage, and the difference between
external and inner time.
 Characters reflect her own leisured, intellectual, upper-middle class.
 Many narratives are set in London, where she lived.
http://modernism.research.yale.edu/index.php
August Strindberg (Sweden, 1849-1912)
Three phases which reflect different moment of his difficult life:

Modern Swedish realism, even naturalism, which reflect the
disappointment and bitterness he felt about his personal life.

After a nervous breakdown, a beginning of modern expressionism
(represented by his surrealistic “dream-plays”) in which the “inner
world has as much, if not more, claim to reality than the external
experience”. Even his nearly naturalistic works have a tender
mysticism.

Historical dramas, inspired in Shakespeare’s historical plays, but about
Swedish history.
His writings, which include plays, fairy tales, poems, short stories, prose
sketches, essays, autobiographical writings and novels, fill 55 volumes.