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For other uses, see Stream of consciousness (psychology)

In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a literary technique that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. Stream-of-consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. The introduction of the term to describe literature, transferred from psychology, is attributed to May Sinclair. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. ... A monologue, which comes from the Greek words mono and logos meaning one word, is a speech by one person directly addressing an audience. ... Modernist literature is the literary form of Modernism and especially High modernism; it should not be confused with modern literature, which is the history of the modern novel and modern poetry as one. ... May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. ...

Literature

Several notable works employing stream of consciousness are:

• Édouard Dujardin's Les Lauriers sont coupés (1888)
• Knut Hamsun's Hunger (1890)
• Arthur Schnitzler's Leutnant Gustl (1901)
• Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time (1913-27)
• T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
• Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage (1915-28)
• James Joyce's
  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
  • Ulysses (1922) - in particular Molly Bloom's Soliloquy
  • Finnegans Wake (1932)
• Virginia Woolf's
  • Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
  • To the Lighthouse (1927)
  • The Waves (1931)
• Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf (1927)
• William Faulkner's
  • The Sound and the Fury (1929)
  • As I Lay Dying (1930)
• Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song (1932)^{[citation needed]}
• William Styron's Lie Down in Darkness (1951)^{[citation needed]}
• Samuel Beckett's 'trilogy' :
  • Molloy (1951)
  • Malone Dies (1951)
  • The Unnamable(1953)
• Sam Selvon's The Lonely Londonders (1956)
• Jack Kerouac's
  • On the Road(1957)
  • Tristessa
• William Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959)
• Jerzy Andrzejewski's Gates to Paradise (1960)^{[citation needed]}
• J. D. Salinger's Seymour: An Introduction (1963)
• Hubert Selby Jr.'s
  • Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964)^{[citation needed]}
  • Requiem for a Dream (1978)^{[citation needed]}
• Oğuz Atay's Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected) (1972)^{[citation needed]}
• Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea's Illuminatus! (1975)^{[citation needed]}
• Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren (1975)^{[citation needed]}
• Nadine Gordimer's July's People (1981)
• Bahram Bayzai's Death of Yazdgerd (1982)
• Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy (1992)^{[citation needed]}
• Will Christopher Baer's Phineas Poe trilogy (2005))^{[citation needed]}
  • Kiss Me, Judas
  • Hell's Half Acre
  • Penny Dreadful (parts)

The technique has been parodied, for example, by David Lodge in the final chapter of The British Museum Is Falling Down. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Edouard Dujardin. ... Knut Hamsun (31 years old) in 1890 Knut Hamsun (August 4, 1859 – February 19, 1952) was a leading Norwegian author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1920. ... Sult refers to: Hunger (novel), a novel written by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. ... Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (May 15, 1862 - October 21, 1931) was an Austrian writer and doctor. ... Proust redirects here. ... In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past (French: À la recherche du temps perdu) is a semi-autobiographical novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a poem by T. S. Eliot, marked the start of his career as one of the twentieth centurys most influential poets. ... Dorothy Miller Richardson (17 May 1873 - 17 June 1957) was the first writer to publish an English-language novel using what was to become known as the stream-of-consciousness technique. ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialized in The Egoist from 1914 to 1915 and published in book form in 1916. ... Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris. ... Molly Blooms soliloquy is the final chapter of James Joyces novel Ulysses (often referred to as Penelope, after Mollys mythical counterpart). ... For the American writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff. ... Mrs. ... To the Lighthouse (5 May 1927) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. ... The Waves, first published in 1931 is the most experimental novel of Virginia Woolf. ... Hermann Hesse (pronounced ) (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. ... For other uses, see Steppenwolf. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... The Sound and the Fury is a Southern Gothic novel written by American author William Faulkner, which makes use of the stream of consciousness narrative technique pioneered by European authors such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. ... As I Lay Dying is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. ... Lewis Grassic Gibbon (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), born James Leslie Mitchell, was a Scottish writer. ... Sunset Song is a 1932 novel by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. ... William Clark Styron, Jr. ... Lie Down in Darkness is a 1951 novel by American novelist William Styron. ... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... Molloy (1951) is a novel by Samuel Beckett, the first of the sequence of novels which includes Malone Dies and The Unnamable. ... Malone Dies is the second novel in Samuel Becketts so called Trilogy of novels that began with Molloy, and ended with the Unnamable. ... The Unnamable is a short story written by science fiction/fantasy author Howard Phillips Lovecraft in 1925. ... Samuel Selvon (1923–1994) was a Trinidad-born writer of mixed Indo-Trinidadian and European descent. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ... Tristessa cover Tristessa is a short novel by Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac set in Mexico City. ... William S. Burroughs. ... Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs. ... Jerzy Andrzejewski (August 19, 1909, Warsaw, Poland - April 19, 1983, Warsaw) was a prolific Polish author. ... Gates to Paradise is a 1968 movie by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. ... Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) (pronounced ) is an American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and his reclusive nature. ... Hubert Selby, Jr. ... Cover of the 1988 Grove Press reissue of Last Exit to Brooklyn Last Exit to Brooklyn is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr. ... Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 film adaptation of a 1978 novel of the same name. ... OÄŸuz Atay (born 1934 in Ä°nebolu, died 1977) was a notable Turkish author. ... Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected) is the first novel of Oguz Atay, one of the most prominent Turkish authors. ... Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was a prolific American novelist, essayist, philosopher, psychologist, futurologist, anarchist, and conspiracy theory researcher. ... Robert Joseph Shea (1933 - March 10, 1994) was the co-author (with Robert Anton Wilson) of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. ... 23 The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. ... Samuel Ray Delany, Jr. ... Dhalgren is a science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany. ... Nadine Gordimer (born 20 November 1923) is a South African novelist and writer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature and 1974 Booker Prize. ... Julys People is a 1982 novel by 1991 Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. ... Bahram Bayzai (also spelt Bahram Beizai, Bahram Beyzaie, Persian: ‎ , born 26 December 1938 in Tehran) is an Iranian film director, theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, film editor, producer, and researcher. ... Patrick McCabe (born March 27, 1955 in Clones, in County Monaghan, Ireland) is an Irish writer of mostly dark and violent novels of contemporary, often small-town, Ireland. ... The Butcher Boy (1992) is a novel by Patrick McCabe and a (1997) film directed by Neil Jordan. ... Will Christopher Baer is an American author of noir fiction, often delving into sex, violence, mystery and erotica. ... Kiss Me, Judas (1998) is the first published novel by American author Will Christopher Baer. ... Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders William S. Rosecrans Braxton Bragg Strength 43,400 37,712 Casualties 13,249 (1,730 killed, 7,802 wounded, 3,717 captured/missing) 10,266 (1,294 killed, 7,945 wounded, 1,027 captured/missing) The Battle of Stones River... Penny Dreadful can refer to: The 19th century British penny dreadful publications. ... David Lodge (born January 28, 1935 at London, England) is a British author. ... The British Museum Is Falling Down (1965) is a comic novel by David Lodge about a 25 year-old poverty-stricken student of English literature who, rather than working on his thesis (entitled The Structure of Long Sentences in Three Modern English Novels) in the reading room of the British...

Other media

The technique is not specifically confined to literary sources, and has been used loosely to describe either separately or in combination with other media. For instance, Travis Trent sings unwritten stream of consciousness lyrics on five of the six songs on the album Stories: His, Mine, Others.

Stand-up comedy

• British comedian Ross Noble's performances take the form of a stream of consciousness with partial interaction with the audience, with the effect of him going off in tangents during the whole show.

Ross Markham Noble,[1] born 5 June 1976, is an English stand-up comedian, raised in Cramlington, Northumberland. ...

Cinema and sketch comedy

• Terrence Malick is notable for using a stream of consciousness voice over for one or several of his characters in all of his four films to date. His characters usually express thoughts of existentialism and are deeply rooted in philosophical matters.

• The movie The Weather Man with Nicolas Cage presents a scene where the main character narrates his line of thought when going off to buy tartar sauce. The use of stream of consciousness in this scene has the purpose of explaining why the character forgot to buy the tartar sauce.

• The movie Adaptation., written by Charlie Kaufman, starts with an internal monologue from the main character, who is also called Charlie Kaufman. The monologue shows he suffers from a writer's block, and is by association filled with random thoughts of failure. [1]

Terrence Terry Malick (born November 30, 1943, in Ottawa, Illinois) is an American film director. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement that posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. ... Weather man and Weather Man redirect here. ... Nicolas Cage (born January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ... Chicken with tartar sauce Tartar sauce or tartare sauce is a thick white sauce made from mayonnaise and finely chopped pickled cucumber, capers, onions (or chives), and fresh parsley. ... For other uses, see Adaptation (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A monologue, pronounced monolog, is a speech made by one person speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing a reader, audience, or character. ... For other uses, see Writers block (disambiguation). ...

Television

• Terry Gilliam made cut-out animations as a Python for the show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which linked together sketches using stream of consciousness.

• The NBC sitcom Scrubs is presented with the protagonist's thoughts heard by the viewer as a stream-of-consciousness voiceover playing the role of narration; it often goes off on seemingly random tangents—much as any person's thoughts tend to wander if not focused on something specific. The viewer also frequently sees the protagonist's imagination at work.

• The ABC sitcom, Wonder Years is also presented with the protagonist's thoughts heard by the viewer as a stream-of-consciousness voiceover playing the role of narration.

• Stand-up comedians Dennis Miller and Richard Lewis perform fast-paced monologues containing pop culture references which are often described as stream-of-consciousness.

Terrence Vance Gilliam (born November 22, 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, animator, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. ... Monty Python, or The Pythons,[2][3] is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ... This article is about the television series. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Scrubs is an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning American situation comedy/comedy-drama that premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence and is produced by Touchstone Television. ... John Dorian (portrayed by Zach Braff) Dr. Jonathan Michael Dorian (most commonly referred to as J.D.) is a fictional character played by Zach Braff in the American sitcom Scrubs. ... VoiceOver is a feature built into Apple Computers Mac OS X v10. ... In fiction, a narrator is a voice or character who tells the story. ... 2002 identity of the ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... The Wonder Years was a television show set in the 1960s and early 1970s. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Needs to expand on topic; otherwise, should be considered for redirection to Wonder Years. ... VoiceOver is a feature built into Apple Computers Mac OS X v10. ... In fiction, a narrator is a voice or character who tells the story. ... Richard Pryor hits the money line A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs in comedy clubs, usually reciting a fast paced succession of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners, typically called a monologue. ... Dennis Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American Emmy Award-winning comedian, political commentator, television personality, and talk radio host. ... Richard Lewis may be Richard Lewis (baseball player) Richard Lewis (comedian) Richard Lewis (politician) Richard Lewis (tenor) Richard W. Lewis, literary critic and biographer This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... A monologue is a speech by one person directly addressing an audience. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ...

World Wide Web

One example of a website that uses the technique is Cognitec/3rd Force, which is the progressive work of an anonymous author known only as "HC." The site began in the mid 1990s as a series of bizarre and sardonic original passages which was "spoofed" to look like prominent web portals of the early Dot com boom. For example, the now defunct "Pathfinder" site (now simply the Time Inc. portal [2]) was parodied as "Crapfinder," the "New York Times" became the "New Times York." Dot-com (also dotcom or redundantly dot. ...

Because of the site's extensive use of the literary method, transitory and seemingly-unrelated themes became connected through hyperlinks. These seemed to further reflect the free-flowing thought process of the strangely prolific author. It was later revealed that much of the content consisted of excerpts from the metafictional novel MFU (ISBN 188640402X) [3]. The novel's desultory narrative structure and breadth of material was sufficient for creating years worth of related material in the form of multiple parodies, faux news reports, and essays, as well as providing prospective readers of the novel an opportunity to "sample" the book. Most of the novel was subsequently released as either readable or searchable on-line [4]. // A hyperlink, is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document or to another document that may be on a (different) website. ... Metafiction is a kind of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. ...

Many online forums have sections for so-called "Off-Topic" discussions. Threads in these forums tend to loosely follow stream-of-consciousness simply by virtue of the fact that multiple people express their own thought processes without hesitation of retribution. This perspective is, of course, controversial since traditional stream-of-consciousness is the result of one person's writing alone.

A relatively new website, http://chainofthoughts.com conforms to the stream of consciousness style of writing using tag clouds to shift readers through various seemingly unrelated pages. Following the Virginia Tech massacre the website was used as a place of semi-anonymous mourning and was highlighted on the BBC website.^[1] A tag cloud with terms related to Web 2. ... The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting comprising two separate attacks about two hours apart on April 16, 2007, on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

Music

• At least two of the songs on Van Morrison's acclaimed album "Astral Weeks" were said to be stream of consciousness by the composer. "'Madame George' just came right out. The song is just a stream of consciousness thing, as is 'Cyprus Avenue'. Both these songs just came right out. I didn't even think about what I was writing."^[2]

• R.E.M.'s song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" features rapid-fire lyrics that are described as stream of consciousness.

• Bob Dylan's songs "Like a Rolling Stone", "Desolation Row" & "Subterranean Homesick Blues", the latter of which was said by R.E.M. to have influenced their song above.

• Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala from the Mars Volta and At the Drive-In often writes in a highly abstract style, which could be considered stream of consciousness.

• Bruce Springsteen's first two albums, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." and "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" feature the stream of consciousness technique in a majority of the lyrics, such as Springsteen's first single, 'Blinded by the Light'.

• Dream Theater has an instrumental song titled "Stream of Consciousness" in which the song flows openly based on a single chord progression. The song is believed to be written as an example of stream of consciousness.

• Spock's Beard a progressive rock band, has a song titled "Stream of Unconsciousness" The name is most likely a parody of the Dream Theater song.

• Many songs on the album The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers are written in this style.

• Thom Yorke of Radiohead frequently writes songs in this style, for instance "A Wolf at the Door" from their 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

• Karl Hyde of the UK electronic band Underworld is know to frequently use the method.^[3][4] It is especially apparent in the songs "Pearl's Girl", "Born Slippy .NUXX", and "Cowgirl".

• Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Rap has many examples, such as: George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a Grammy Award-winning Irish singer, songwriter, author, poet and multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional musician since the late 1950s. ... For the Charles Mingus album, see Astral Weeks (Charles Mingus album). ... Madame George is a song by Irish musician Van Morrison. ... Cyprus Avenue is a song written by Van Morrison and included on his 1968 album Astral Weeks. ... R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980 by Bill Berry (drums), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass guitar), and Michael Stipe (vocals). ... Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) is a song by the rock band R.E.M., found on their 1987 album Document and the 1988 compilation Eponymous. ... This article is about the recording artist. ... Highway 61 Revisited track listing Like a Rolling Stone (1) Tombstone Blues (2) Music sample: Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 30 seconds (of 6:10) Problems listening to the file? See media help. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Subterranean Homesick Blues is a song written by Bob Dylan, originally released on the album Bringing It All Back Home in March 1965. ... Cedric Bixler-Zavala (born November 4, 1974 in Redwood City, California) is the lead singer and lyricist of The Mars Volta, and was previously the lead singer and lyricist of At the Drive-In. ... The Mars Volta is an American rock group founded by Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Isaiah Ikey Owens and Jeremy Michael Ward in 2001. ... At the Drive-In were an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, that was active from 1993 to 2001. ... Springsteen redirects here. ... Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was the first album recorded by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, released in 1973 (see 1973 in music), and sold about 25,000 copies in the first year. ... The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is the second album by Bruce Springsteen and the as-yet-unnamed E Street Band, it is described by All Music Guide as One of the greatest albums in the history of rock and roll. ... Audio sample Blinded by the Light is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen. ... Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band comprising James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy. ... Spocks Beard is a progressive rock band formed in 1992 in Los Angeles by brothers Neal and Alan Morse. ... The Holy Bible was the third studio album by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. ... Manic Street Preachers (often known colloquially as The Manics) are a Welsh rock band often associated with the Britpop scene, who gained mainstream popularity in the UK in the late 1990s. ... Thomas Edward Yorke (born October 7, 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England) is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the band Radiohead. ... Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire. ... Hail to the Thief (subtitled The Gloaming) is the sixth studio album by English rock band Radiohead, released on 9 June 2003 in the United Kingdom and June 10, 2003 in the United States. ... Underworld is the principal name under which British electronic music duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded since the late 1980s. ... Pearls Girl is the title of several 1996 single releases and a song by Underworld. ... Born Slippy . ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Cowgirl (re-issue). ... William Joseph Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist, songwriter, composer and musician. ... We Didnt Start the Fire is a song by Billy Joel that references a catalog of headline events during his lifetime, from March 1949 to 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. ...

• Hip Hop group Das EFX is especially known for employing this technique in their lyrics, constantly shifting from one subject to another while rapping.

• Rapper Eminem has also used the technique in his song Rain Man, parodying the character in the film Rain Man on his album, Encore.

• 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.

• Kool Keith is known for his complicated and Stream Of Consciousness rap flow.

Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Das EFX is an American hip-hop group. ... Rain Man is a 1988 film which tells the story of a selfish yuppie who discovers that his father has left all of his estate to the autistic brother he never knew he had. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by the stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper revered for his lyrical dexterity and vivid imagination. ... Keith Matthew Thornton (born c. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Yorke, Ritchie (1975). Into The Music, London:Charisma Books , ISBN 0-85947-013-X

See also

• Stream of consciousness (psychology)