Required Texts:
Stream of ConsciousnessDorrit Cohn. Transparent Minds: Narrative Modes for Presenting Consciousness in Fiction. Princeton Univ Pr. ISBN: 0691101566
Robert Humphrey. Stream of Consciousness in the Modern Novel. Univ California Press. ISBN: 0520005856
William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury. Random. ISBN: 0679732241
William Faulkner. Absalom, Absalom! Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679732187
William Faulkner. Go Down, Moses. Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679732179James Joyce. Dubliners. Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679739904
James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679739890
James Joyce. Ulysses. Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679722769Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway. Harcourt Brace. ISBN: 0156628708
Virginia Woolf. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt Brace. ISBN: 0156907399
Virginia Woolf. The Waves. Harcourt Brace. ISBN: 0156949601
Introduction
Cohn's Transparent Minds and Humphrey's Stream of Consciousness in the Modern Novel (if available; it goes in and out of print) are companion pieces to the novels on this reading list; they should be read in conjunction with the primary texts. Students reading for 1 credit must choose (in addition to Cohn and Humphrey) one work by Faulkner, Joyce, and Woolf. The OLRs coordinator can talk you through the choices. Students reading for two credits must also read two additional works listed.
Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique that attempts to reproduce the thought patterns of characters. A narrator does not tell us what Mrs. Ramsay is thinking; the author uses stream-of-consciousness techniques to show what she is thinking. There is no one technique, but various conventions that are employed by different authors to convey psychological realism. Faulkner, Joyce, and Woolf, writing during the same period, each developed distinctive uses of stream of consciousness.
When reading each novel, and any secondary materials, there are several aspects to which you should pay special note:
- overall effect of stream-of-consciousness techniques within a novel
- changes in density of use (some passages will use stream of consciousness sparingly, others will be extended examples of its use)
- tendencies or strategies of authors when switching between tenses
- the way dialogue is used (or not used) in conjunction with stream-of-consciousness narrative
- similarities and differences in use by Faulkner, Joyce, and Woolf
Main Medieval Drama Romantic Poetry Travel Literature
Stream of Consciousness Feminist Literary Theory
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