5-The Psychology

This novel is the most modern novel. Some of these novels is also called ' Stream of
Consciousness' novel.

Stream of Consciousness Novel or Psychological Novel:

Psychological novels are works of fiction that treat the internal life of the protagonist (or
several or all characters) as much as (if not more than) the external forces that make up the
plot. The phrase “Stream of Consciousness” was coined by William James in his Principles of
Psychology (1890), to describe the flow of thought of the waking mind.

Examples:

Virginia Wolfe’s To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dolloway, James Joyce’s Ulysses, D. H. Lawrence’s
Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow.

Psychological Novel

It is the innermost desires and motives of the characters that are

projected in this type of novel. The feelings and reactions of the

characters are given prominence more than the social setting. The

stream of consciousness techniques suites this type very much.

Examples – Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, James Joyce’s

Ulysses, etc.

Stream of consciousness novels

James Joyce (1882-1941) and Virginia Woolf

(1882-1941) are two important authors who made use of

stream of consciousness narrative technique in their

novels. They believed that reality is presented through

showing than telling. How the feelings are experienced by

characters subjectively are important rather than relying

on somebody from the outside to make commentary and

tell the story. The narration depends on the interior

monologues or interior flow of thoughts which are often

disjointed and non linear unlike traditional linear

narration of events. Inner working of the mind of the

character is given importance, which is the actual reality.

Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) and Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

(1927) are examples of stream of consciousness novels.

Psychological fiction

EDIT

Psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a literary genre that emphasizes interior
characterization, as well as the motives, circumstances, and internal action which is derivative
from and creates external action; not content to state what happens, it rather reveals and
studies the motivation behind the action. Character and characterization are prominent, often
delving deeper into characters' mentalities than other genres. Psychological novels are known
as stories of the "inner person." Some stories employ stream of consciousness, interior
monologues, and flashbacks to illustrate characters' mentalities. While these textual
techniques are prevalent in literary modernism, there is no deliberate effort to fragment the
prose or compel the reader to interpret the text.

Early examples

The Tale of Genji, written in 11th-century Japan, was considered a psychological novel by Jorge
Luis Borges.[1] In the west, the origins of the psychological novel can be traced as far back as
Giovanni Boccaccio's 1344 Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta; that is before the term psychology
was coined.

The first rise of the psychological novel as a genre is said to have started with the sentimental
novel of which Samuel Richardson's Pamela is a prime example.

In French literature, Stendhal's The Red and the Black and Madame de La Fayette's The
Princess of Cleves are considered early precursors of the psychological novel.[2] The modern
psychological novel originated, according to The Encyclopedia of the Novel, primarily in the
works of Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun – in particular, Hunger (1890), Mysteries (1892), Pan
(1894) and Victoria (1898).[3]

Notable examples

The psychological novel has a rich past in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works of
Mme de Lafayette, the Abbé Prévost, Samuel Richardson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and many
others, but it goes on being disinvented by ideologues and reinvented by their opponents,
because the subtleties of psychology defy most ideologies.[4]

One of the greatest writers of the genre was Fyodor Dostoyevsky. His novels deal strongly with
ideas, and characters who embody these ideas, how they play out in real world circumstances,
and the value of them, most notably The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment.

In the literature of the United States, Henry James, Patrick McGrath, Arthur Miller, and Edith
Wharton are considered "major contributor[s] to the practice of psychological realism."[5]

Subgenres
Psychological thriller - Psychological thriller is a subgenre of the thriller and psychological novel
genres, emphasizing the inner mind and mentality of characters in a creative work. Because of
its complexity, the genre often overlaps and/or incorporates elements of mystery, drama,
action, slasher, and horror — often psychological horror. It bears similarities to the Gothic and
detective fiction genres.[6]

Psychological horror - Psychological horror is a subgenre of the horror and psychological novel
genres, which psychological, emotionally and mentally relies on the state of characters to
generate horror. On occasions, it overlaps with the psychological thriller subgenre to enhance
the story suspensefully.

Psychological drama - Psychological drama is a subgenre of the drama and psychological novel
genres, which focuses upon the emotional, mental and psychological development of
characters in a dramatic work.

History of Psychological Novel

Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, written during 11th Century Japan, is considered to be
the earliest psychological novel.

Elegir di Madina Fiammeta( The Elegy of Lady of Fiammeta), written in 1343/44 by Italian
writer Boccaccio, is also an example of early psychological novel.

Modern psychological novel emerged as a reaction against Realistic novel/social

realism( Novels by George Eliot, Dickens etc...) of the Victorian period.

As a literary genre, Samuel Richardson’s “Pamela” or “Virtue Rewarded”(a sentimental novel),

by many critics and scholars, is considered to be the origin point of psychological novel.

Causes of the rise of Psychological Novel in The Modern Age(1901-1950)

Socio-political and scientific changes.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of science, theory of conscious , unconscious and subconscious

mind, theory of the interpretations of dreams.

Bergson’s concept of Time.

Consequences of World War 1.

Loss of faith in science and technology.

Religious rituals and values were attacked and destroyed by Darwin with the publication of
“The Origin of Species”.

Dominance of the instincts over the Will, subconscious over the conscious.

Some of the novelists believed that conflicts and struggles take place in the mind of the
characters