Modernist writers such as Joyce expand
on this theory in his novels namely
‘Ulysses’ and ‘Young Artist’ and
others. In his novels, he followed no
particular structure but presented the
thoughts of his characters as it would
have occurred to them (the characters
of his novel). These modernist writers
could mingle the past, present and
future of his/her character in a seamless
form. They could take the readers into
the past, present and future of their
characters in just one paragraph by
simply expressing the thoughts of their
characters in one particular moment.
It was the working of the mind, that is,
its consciousness and sub consciousness
and how seamlessly they mingle
together in a mind of an individual
which in turn dictates how they behave
at a certain situation, which was of
prime importance to these modernist
writers.But no matter how much they
disregard the importance of grammar
in the persuasion of a higher degree of
realism in their novels, the undeniable
importance of grammar in English
literature remained intact.It was in the hands of writers such
as Virginia Woolf that the concept
of the “stream of consciousness” as
propagated by psychologist William
James and employed by different
authors such as Joyce and Richardson,
attained its fullest potential of
combining both the tradition and
the individual talent of a writer (as is
suggested by Eliot in his critical essay
that for an artist to really attain his
higher degree of creativity he has to
acknowledge the superiority of the
tradition preceding his time while also
making sure to include a novelty of his
own in the long history of tradition
through his individuality). It was she
who could really present the follow
of thoughts of her characters in such
a form which could dig deeper into
the characteristics of her characters
while also making sure that the usage
of grammar to attain the same wasn’t
sacrificed.Novels such as “To the lighthouse”
show the mastery of the author in
this form. In this particular novel,
Woolf introduces her characters by
taking us deep into their thoughts.And as it is apparent, the thoughts of
her characters doesn’t follow a proper
sequence but jumps from one instance
to the other by connecting each
instance to the other in some form
or the other. It is the thoughts of her
characters along with the thoughts of
other characters about that particular
character that helps her sketch the
picture of the same in the minds of the
readers.Upon reading the novels of this
particular era of the English literature,
one is bound to realize that creativity
and originality is bound by no rules.
Though, we are often taught to follow
rules such as the rule of using proper
grammar to come across as a learned
man or woman of that particular
language, it is the one who deviates
from such ever binding rules, such as
Joyce, Richardson and Woolf, who
can really show their individuality and
showcase their talents to the world and
in turn get the world to acknowledge
the fact that creativity is bound by no
rules, but is independent of all.72 neScholar^0 vol 4^0 issue 4