History of English Literature

Stream of Consciousness

The Stream of consciousness novel is concerned with the atmosphere of a mind. It is not a novel of incidents or of action, but rather treatment of the inner world of man. It depicts and illuminates the particular moments of human experiences and feelings and reveals how a mind is affected at its bottom by the same. It turns from external reality to inner revelation, from the outward world of action to the hidden resort of reverie. 

The main aspect of this class of novel is found in an inward turning toward mental experiences. The novelist exposes how a man’s mind moves mysteriously and how it flows continuously yet quite intricately. The novelist makes a penetrative analysis of this tendency of the mind, dissecting it in all its elusive and dynamic aspects. This is an expressionist technique to reveal different characters – their inmost thoughts, moods, feelings. 

This technique is found eminently used by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf – two prominent names in this kind of fiction.

James Joyce (1882-1941)

The perfection of the stream of consciousness technique is perceived in James Joyce, a unique talent in modern English fiction. His celebrated novel ‘Ulysses’ unveils the inner world of human consciousness and shows the use of the stream of consciousness method more thoroughly.

This novel has no conventional story interest. The action of ‘Ulysses’ covers only one specific day, rather less than the entire twenty four hours, in one specific place, Dublin, in 1904. Nothing extraordinary or sensational happens in the action of the novel. However, Joyce treats the inner world of each character through his or her participation in different activities and shows the flow of the stream of consciousness in it.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

The stream of consciousness technique is seen further developed in Virginia Woolf, as seen in her celebrated work ‘Mrs. Dalloway’, published in 1925. There is a pattern in the continuous change in the mind, and this give a meaning to the whole plan.

This stream of consciousness technique forms the essence of Virginia Woolf’s world of fiction, as of James Joyce’s. Her other works such as ‘To the Lighthouse’, ‘The Waves’ and “Between the Acts’ are framed in the same pattern, revealing the working of the inner world in a specific situation or occasion.

Though, the stream of consciousness has not as much continuous flow in Virginia Woolf as in James Joyce. The nature of the character, conceived by her, has affected the full stream of consciousness in her novels. The mind, in its constant consciousness, is found engaged in some perpetual soliloquy, which becomes the key point in her fiction. 

The stream of consciousness technique is a bold experiment in modern English fiction. Thus, the technique’s range and the possibility are well demonstrated by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf in particularly.