The Modern Novel: Evolution from Victorian Era and Interior Monologue

The Modern Novel

55 1 5 1 50 10 45 3 CL 1 8 60. 1011 40 50 10 1 20 The modern novel Performer Shaping Ideas Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella, Margaret Layton @ 2021 ZANICHELLI

The Modern Novel: Shift from Victorian to Modern

1 19 1The modern novel 1. The shift from the Victorian to the modern novel Caused by a gradual but substantial transformation of British society unrest and ferment characterising the years after WWI They forced novelists into a position of moral and psychological uncertainty. The novelist became a mediator between the solid and unquestioned values of the past and the confused present. The new concept of time and the new theory of the unconscious contributed to the birth of the modern novel. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

The New Concept of Time

William James's Continuous Flow of Experience

2. The new concept of time The American psychologist William James in The Principles of Psychology (1890) held that: 'Our mind records every single experience as a continuous flow of 'the already' into the 'not yet'.' William James THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY Volume One Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Henri Bergson's Distinction of Time

2. The new concept of time The French Henri Bergson made a distinction between: Historical time, which is external, linear and measured by the hands of a clock. Psychological time, which is internal, subjective, measured by the relative emotional intensity of the moment. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

The Theory of the Unconscious

3. The theory of the unconscious Freud's theories about the simultaneous existence of different levels of consciousness and unconsciousness. The whole personality of each human being is determined by the coexistence of the past in the present. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Characteristics of the Modern Novel

Subjective Time and Plot Absence

4. The modern novel Time was perceived as subjective and internal the distinction between past and present was meaningless in psychological terms. · Absence of a well-structured plot with a chronological sequence of events. . It was not the passing of time that revealed the truth about characters. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Novelists' New Narrative Techniques

4. The modern novel The modern novelist: · rejected omniscient narration; · understood it was impossible to reproduce the complexity of the human mind using traditional techniques; · looked for new methods to portray the individual consciousness. Creation of a new narrative technique: the stream-of- consciousness technique or the interior monologue. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Psychological Novelists

5. The psychological novelists D.H. Lawrence. Joseph Conrad. E.M. Forster. They were interested in the development of the character's mind and human relationships. The most important are: . Joseph Conrad, who tried to record the mystery of human experience; · David Herbert Lawrence, who centred his work on the importance of natural impulses; · Edward Morgan Forster, whose recurrent themes are the complexity of human relationships and the analysis of the contrast between two different cultures. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Modernist Novelists

6. The Modernist novelists James Joyce and Virginia Woolf: · chose subjective narrative techniques; . explored the mind of one or more characters; • gave voice to their characters' thoughts. James Joyce. Virginia Woolf. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

The Interior Monologue

7. The interior monologue Novelists adopted the interior monologue > to represent the unspoken activity of the mind before it is ordered into speech. Interior monologue -> the verbal expression of a psychic phenomenon Stream of consciousness the psychic phenomenon itself Virginia Woolf. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Main Features of Interior Monologue

8. The main features of the interior monologue Year of ULYSSES eluctable modality the visible: least that if no more Signature seaspawn and thought of all thing seawrack through the tide, my eyes, am here ead nearing rusty signs. boot coloured diaphane. If you not, a doo Shut your eyes and see. Modernist Versions Project | web.uvic.ca/~mvp 1922 · Frequent lack of chronological order; · the narrator may be present; · formal logical order may be lost or lacking; · the action takes place within the character's mind; · speech may be immediate, without introductory expressions. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLI silver Limits of the WaalBijous Can Put five fingers through it, it is a gateThe modern novel

Indirect Interior Monologue

9. Indirect interior monologue It is characterised by the following devices: · the narrator is present within the narration -> the character's thoughts are presented both directly and by adding descriptions, appropriate comments and introductory phrases to guide the reader through the narration; · the character stays fixed in space while his/her consciousness moves freely in time; . everything happens in the present in the character's mind. 'inner time' preferred to 'external time'. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Direct Interior Monologue with Two Levels of Narration

10. Direct interior monologue with two levels of narration BLOOM Its main literary devices are: . the narrator seems not to exist; · the character's self is given directly; · there are two levels of narration -> a mixture of third-person narration, linked to an external time, and interior narration linked to the character's mind. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLIThe modern novel

Direct Interior Monologue with Mind Level

11. Direct interior monologue with the mind level In this kind of interior monologue the character's thoughts flow freely, not interrupted by external events. From the first to the last word, no external element interrupts Molly's monologue in the final chapter of Joyce's Ulysses. 'Yes because he never did a thing like that before as ask to get his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the City Arms hotel when he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting to that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for masses.' I • The narrator disappears. • Molly's thoughts are free to move backwards. · Absence of punctuation. Performer Shaping Ideas ZANICHELLI