This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Thomas Mills Hinkle (talk | contribs) at 01:03, 9 October 2002 (Added some detail on Stream of Consciousness's use in modernist writers, along with two example texts and some description of scream of consciousness writing in general.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:03, 9 October 2002 by Thomas Mills Hinkle (talk | contribs) (Added some detail on Stream of Consciousness's use in modernist writers, along with two example texts and some description of scream of consciousness writing in general.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In psychology and philosopy, the term, stream of consciousness, refers to the set of constantly changing inner thoughts and sensations which an individual has while conscious.
In literary criticism, the term is used to denote a literary technique which seeks to describe an individual's point of view using a written version of that individual's psychological stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. Two of the most famous works to employ the technique are James Joyce's Ulysses and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Stream of consciousness writing is characterised by associative leaps that can make the prose difficult to follow. Typically, writers employ very long sentences which move from one thought to another. Sometimes, writers avoid punctuation altogether to avoid making artificial breaks in the "stream."