Ever tried to follow your thoughts while brushing your teeth? One moment, you are thinking about toothpaste flavors; the next, you wonder if penguins have knees. Suddenly, you are replaying an argument you had three years ago, but this time, you are winning. That, my friend, is your brain on stream of consciousness.Stream of consciousness is like following a balloon through a funhouse, bouncing unpredictably, floating from one wall (or thought) to another, and sometimes pausing midair. It doesn’t care about grammar rules or tidy conclusions; it just flows.In this article, we will unravel what stream of consciousness means in literature, explore the techniques writers use to capture that spontaneous inner monologue, and dive into some classic examples that feel like a front-row seat inside someone’s head. Let’s go.Stream of Consciousness: DefinitionStream of consciousness is a narrative technique in literature that attempts to capture the continuous, unfiltered flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, and sensory experiences as they occur. This style often disregards traditional grammar and structure to more authentically reflect the mind's inner workings. Writers like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and William Faulkner famously used this technique to delve deeply into their characters' psychology.James Joyce once claimed he had written a whole chapter of Ulysses while lying on his back in bed, scribbling sentences on scrap paper with a crayon. Yeah, crayon. That’s the kind of wild, unfiltered creativity that the stream of consciousness technique invites.It’s like dumping your brain straight onto the page without stopping to tidy it...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today