Editing Stream of consciousness (section)

{{Short description|Narrative device used in literature}}
{{About|the literary device|the pre-writing technique|Free writing|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

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.<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms''. (Harmondsworth, Penguin Books,1984), pp. 660–1).</ref> It is usually in the form of an [[Monologue|interior monologue]] which is disjointed or has irregular punctuation.<ref name=":0" /> The term was first used in 1855 and was first applied to a literary technique in 1918. While critics have pointed to various literary precursors, it was not until the 20th century that this technique was fully developed by [[Modernism|modernist]] writers such as [[Marcel Proust]], [[James Joyce]], [[Dorothy Richardson]] and [[Virginia Woolf]].

Stream of consciousness narratives continue to be used in modern prose and the term has been adopted to describe similar techniques in other art forms such as poetry, songwriting and film.