In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a way of telling a story that tries to show the many thoughts and feelings that go through a character's mind. This method often uses an inner monologue, which may feel broken or have uneven punctuation. Although some critics mention earlier examples, this technique was fully developed by modernist writers in the 20th century, including Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, and Virginia Woolf.
Today, stream of consciousness is still used in modern writing. The term is also applied to similar methods in other creative fields, such as poetry, songwriting, and film.
Origin of term
In 1855, Alexander Bain introduced the term in the first edition of The Senses and the Intellect, stating, "The combination of sensations in a single stream of consciousness—on the same brain pathway—allows sensations from different senses to connect as easily as those from the same sense." However, the term is often linked to William James, who used it in his 1890 book The Principles of Psychology. James wrote, "Consciousness does not seem to be broken into pieces… it is not separate; it flows. A 'river' or a 'stream' are the best ways to describe it. From now on, let's refer to it as the stream of thought, consciousness, or personal experience."
The term was first used in literature in The Egoist in April 1918 by May Sinclair, who connected it to the early books in Dorothy Richardson's novel series Pilgrimage. Richardson, however, called the term a "very poorly chosen metaphor."
Definition
Stream of consciousness is a literary method that shows how a character's thoughts and feelings move, often written without proper punctuation or in a broken way. Some sources use the words "stream of consciousness" and "interior monologue" as the same thing, but the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms says they can also be different. Psychologically, stream of consciousness is the subject being described, while interior monologue is the way it is shown. In literature, interior monologue always shows a character's thoughts directly, without a narrator summarizing or choosing what to include. However, it does not always mix thoughts with feelings or break grammar rules. Stream-of-consciousness writing may do one or both of these things.
The Encyclopædia Britannica Online agrees that these terms are often used the same way, but it also says that interior monologue might show all the half-formed thoughts, feelings, and ideas that affect a character, but it might also present those thoughts in a structured way.
In the example from James Joyce's Ulysses, Molly tries to fall asleep.
Development
The narrative technique called stream of consciousness is often linked to modernist writers in the early 1900s. However, earlier examples exist. Laurence Sterne’s novel Tristram Shandy (1757) is one such example. John Neal’s Seventy-Six (1823) also used a form of this style, with long sentences and the narrator expressing anxiety. Before the 1800s, philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and Bishop Berkeley discussed the idea of "train of thought," which relates to how people think.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) is sometimes seen as a hint of this technique. The story is told in first person by an unnamed narrator who tries to prove his sanity while describing a murder. It is often read as a dramatic monologue. George R. Clay noted that Leo Tolstoy used stream of consciousness in War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878) when needed.
Ambrose Bierce’s short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890) skips strict time order to show the character’s thoughts. Édouard Dujardin’s novel Les Lauriers sont coupés (1887) also breaks from linear time, making it an important early example. James Joyce later said he read Dujardin’s book in Paris in 1903 and acknowledged borrowing from it.
Some writers, like Anton Chekhov and Knut Hamsun, used stream of consciousness in the late 1800s. Hamsun’s Hunger (1890) and Mysteries (1892) are considered early works of this style. British author Robert Ferguson said Hamsun invented stream of consciousness in two chapters of Mysteries in the 1890s, long before writers like Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady (1881) is also seen as an early influence on later writers.
Arthur Schnitzler’s short story Leutnant Gustl (1900) is sometimes credited as the first full use of stream of consciousness. The technique became more developed in the 1900s. Marcel Proust used it in his novel À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–1927), though some argue he focused more on memory than on the flow of thoughts.
Dorothy Richardson’s Pointed Roofs (1915) is the first complete stream-of-consciousness novel in English. Richardson later said that Proust, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and others used the same method at the same time.
James Joyce used stream of consciousness in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and later in Ulysses (1922). Ulysses mixes stream of consciousness with other styles, showing the character’s thoughts from many perspectives. In Finnegans Wake (1939), Joyce pushed the technique further, using complex language and dream-like ideas.
T. S. Eliot used interior monologue in his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), which explores feelings of loneliness. After Ulysses, writers like Italo Svevo, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner used stream of consciousness in their works. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927) blend different styles of narration.
Samuel Beckett, a friend of Joyce, used interior monologue in novels like Molloy (1951) and The Unnamable (1953). French writer Jean-Paul Sartre also used the technique in his Roads to Freedom trilogy, especially in The Reprieve (1945). The stream of consciousness technique continued to be used by many writers in the decades that followed.
Song lyrics
The stream of consciousness technique is also used in song lyrics. Songwriters such as Sun Kil Moon and Courtney Barnett use it in their songs.
Dialogue in films
Some filmmakers use a storytelling method called stream-of-consciousness. For example, the documentary Anonymous Club, which is about songwriter Courtney Barnett, uses this style to show the character's thoughts. Director Terrence Malick also uses this technique in his films. The 2022 film You Won't Be Alone uses stream-of-consciousness as well.