interior monologue

interior monologue
1. Literature. a form of stream-of-consciousness writing that represents the inner thoughts of a character.
2. Motion Pictures, Television. the device of showing a character on screen who does not appear to speak, although the character's voice is heard on the soundtrack to create the illusion that the audience is hearing the character's thoughts.
[1920-25]

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▪ literary device
      in dramatic and nondramatic fiction, narrative technique that exhibits the thoughts passing through the minds of the protagonists. These ideas may be either loosely related impressions approaching free association or more rationally structured sequences of thought and emotion.

      Interior monologues encompass several forms, including dramatized inner conflicts, self-analysis, imagined dialogue (as in T.S. Eliot (Eliot, T.S.)'s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" [1915]), and rationalization. It may be a direct first-person expression apparently devoid of the author's selection and control, as in Molly Bloom's monologue concluding James Joyce (Joyce, James)'s Ulysses (1922), or a third-person treatment that begins with a phrase such as “he thought” or “his thoughts turned to.”

      The term interior monologue is often used interchangeably with stream of consciousness. But while an interior monologue may mirror all the half thoughts, impressions, and associations that impinge upon the character's consciousness, it may also be restricted to an organized presentation of that character's rational thoughts. Closely related to the soliloquy and dramatic monologue, the interior monologue was first used extensively by Édouard Dujardin in Les Lauriers sont coupés (1887; We'll to the Woods No More) and later became a characteristic device of 20th-century psychological novels (psychological novel).

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • interior monologue — ► NOUN ▪ a piece of writing expressing a character s thoughts …   English terms dictionary

  • interior monologue — n. a narrative technique or passage which suggests a character s stream of consciousness …   English World dictionary

  • interior monologue — UK / US noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms interior monologue : singular interior monologue plural interior monologues literature a piece of writing in which a writer expresses what a character in a novel or story is thinking …   English dictionary

  • interior monologue — noun a literary genre that presents a fictional character s sequence of thoughts in the form of a monologue • Hypernyms: ↑prose * * * inˌterior ˈmonologue 7 [interior monologue] noun (in literature …   Useful english dictionary

  • interior monologue — noun Date: 1922 a usually extended representation in monologue of a fictional character s thought and feeling …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • interior monologue — noun a piece of writing which expresses a character s thoughts …   English new terms dictionary

  • interior monologue — inte′rior mon′ologue n. lit. a form of stream of consciousness writing that represents the inner thoughts of a character • Etymology: 1920–25 …   From formal English to slang

  • interior monologue — /ɪnˌtɪəriə ˈmɒnəlɒg/ (say in.tearreeuh monuhlog) noun literary attempts to reproduce the thoughts and mental processes as they present themselves to the consciousness without restructuring for verbal acceptability or logic …  

  • monologue — monologic /mon euh loj ik/, monological, adj. monologist /mon euh law gist, log ist, meuh nol euh jist/, monologuist /mon euh law gist, log ist/, n. /mon euh lawg , log /, n. 1. a form of dramatic entertainment, comedic solo, or the like by a… …   Universalium

  • Interior — adj. & n. adj. 1 inner (opp. EXTERIOR). 2 remote from the coast or frontier; inland. 3 internal; domestic (opp. FOREIGN). 4 (usu. foll. by to) situated further in or within. 5 existing in the mind or soul; inward. 6 drawn, photographed, etc.… …   Useful english dictionary

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