Modernism in literature involves stream of consciousness

The argument

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis understood the mind in psychology as stream of consciousness did in literature. Inspired by the pivotal neurologist, the writing technique captures the loosely structured, sensorial, and erratic nature of realistic human thoughts.The result is challenging to read at first, often featuring off-putting non-sequiturs and huge bulks of unbroken prose. Yet, its association with novels such as Ulysses (James Joyce) and the work of Virginia Woolf make it a notable feature of Modernist literature. In charting the depths of the human consciousness, these writers not only expanded the psychological implications of fiction but made a radical departure from literary traditions. Sentence structure, syntax, punctuation, and grammar take sometimes incongruous forms. They contribute to a non-linear story, and there is a focus on internal observation over external action. This is because they represent the disordered logic of the human mind and challenge the contrived nature of traditional narrative structures. 'Ulysses' achieves this by setting its narrative over the course of a day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom. The mundane, obscene, and philosophical are rolled together into a subconscious bric-a-brac. As a testament to its modernity, the novel alludes heavily to Greek myth but subverts it with its depiction of a colorful and low-brow Dublin. Then you could take Woolf’s 'To the Lighthouse' for a very different approach. Rather than writing in a first-person interior monologue, Woolf opts for an omnipresent narrator who cycles between the thoughts of various characters inhabiting the same house. In doing so throughout the novel, she tracks the changes of her characters with a psychology clarity and without needing to rely on overt tension. It is also pretty telling that for much of the book, the dramatic highpoint is a missing brooch. Simply, stream-of-consciousness is an iconic and contentious device of the Modernist playbook.

Premises

Counter-arguments

A rebuttal from the rival positions is that stream of consciousness is as much a turn toward the inner life of the individual as it is a formal experiment. Inspired, as the argument says, by Freud's psychology, the technique serves a thematic and psychological end — rendering interior experience — so it equally supports the view that Modernism is defined by its focus on the individual rather than by experimentation with form. Critics add that even granting the technique breaks with narrative tradition, one device cannot establish that formal experimentation is Modernism's defining characteristic rather than one feature among several — alongside the focus on the individual, the revaluation of the past, and relativism about truth.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Being inspired by a focus on the individual's inner life, stream of consciousness equally supports the rival view that Modernism centres on the individual, not specifically on formal experiment. [Rejecting P3] One device breaking with narrative tradition shows Modernism can experiment with form, not that formal experimentation is its defining feature rather than one of several.