In literary criticism, stream of unconsciousness is a

narrative mode Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

that portrays an individual's point of view by transcribing the author's

unconscious Unconscious may refer to: Physiology * Unconsciousness, the lack of consciousness or responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli Psychology * Unconscious mind, the mind operating well outside the attention of the conscious mind a ...

dialogue or ''

somniloquy Somniloquy, commonly referred to as sleep-talking, is a parasomnia in which one speaks aloud while asleep. It can range from simple mumbling sounds to loud shouts or long, frequently inarticulate, speeches. It can occur many times during a sleep c ...

'' during sleep, in connection to their actions within a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

. Stream of unconsciousness is characterized by disjointed leaps in ideation and story line, bizarre new word creation, loss of self-censorship, one sided conversations and punctuation that can make the prose both disturbing and difficult to follow. Despite the name, the stream of unconsciousness occurs more in the form of waves than an actual continuous running stream of dialogue. The stream of unconsciousness is one of several forms of

dramatic monologue Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. M.H. Abrams notes the following three features of the ''dramatic monologue'' as it applies to poetry: Types of dramatic monologue One of the mo ...

, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person. Such monologues are commonly used in

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, but with the stream of unconsciousness, the audience or third persons are 'unknowingly' imaginary. It is primarily a fictional device and often takes the form of a

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

. The term was introduced to the field of literary studies from that of the independent music industry, where it was defined by author and artist

Bryan Lewis Saunders Bryan Lewis Saunders (born 1969, in Washington, D.C.) is an endurance artist, a performance artist, videographer, performance poet, and self-portrait painter known for his disturbing spoken word rants, tragic art performances and stand-up trag ...

in 2005. For nearly a century the term has been both a misnomer and a

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...

for the

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First L ...

History

The audio recordings of Dion McGregor (1922–1994) can be perceived as one of the precursors of the 'stream of unconsciousness' (narrative mode), although his monologues and somniloquy were never transcribed and presented as such. "Dreams" (1995) by contemporary American artist Jim Shaw is a collection of illustrations and extremely detailed dream descriptions. "Experiment with Dreams" by

Leif Elggren Leif Elggren (born 1950, Linköping, Sweden), is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Stockholm. Active since the late 1970s, Leif Elggren has become one of the most constantly surprising conceptual artists to work in the combined worlds of ...

and Thomas Liljenberg (Stockholm Feb. 1996) may also be attributed to the formation of this method."Experiment with Dreams"

, Stockholm. Feb. 1996 Web.

Notable works

Examples of notable works employing the stream of unconsciousness narrative mode are: *"Le Bobcat" Bryan Lewis Saunders and Raymond Dijkstra. Short Story on Cassette (

Fragment Factory Fragment Factory is an independent record label and mail-order house based in Hamburg, Germany, founded in 2009 by Michael Muennich (*1980). The label specializes in releasing experimental electronic music in the broadest sense, including Elect ...

2010) *"The Reasons Why I Dream With Knives" Bryan Lewis Saunders. Nonfiction Book (Stand-Up Tragedy 2010) *"The Confessor" is a book on tape composed of 24 album chapters on 12 audio cassettes. With each album serving as a chapter, over 24 musicians and experimental sound artists created music for the unconscious epic poem by Bryan Lewis Saunders. "The Confessor" was created from app. 30 nights of somniloquy and dream descriptions. Poem and Book on Tape (Stand-Up Tragedy 2011) *"Protective Geometry"

Ed Pinsent Ed Pinsent (born 1960, Liverpool, England) is a British cartoonist, artist, and writer. Biography Ed Pinsent is the son of the classical scholar John Pinsent and was brought up in the city of Liverpool. Pinsent has written and drawn his own sm ...

and Bryan Lewis Saunders. Comic Book. (2012)

References

External links

Glossolalia Episode 5: Recent Sleep WorksBryan Lewis Saunders Sleep Works

Dion McGregor Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stream Of Unconsciousness (Narrative Mode) Narrative techniques Narratology Fiction Style (fiction) Poetry movements