THE SOCIO - PSYCHO PERSPECTIVE OF ENGLISH NOVELS : AN ANALYSIS
Kunal Roy
Conspicuously, the novel as a form of distinct art has acquired a kingly status over other forms of art and literature, not only from the technical point of analysis but also from the perspective of canvas, character study and the plot that keeps on changing from one plane to another, sustaining a sense of awe and grandeur in the reader's mind.
However, it is pretty interesting to note that the importance of psychological novels has enhanced over the passage of time. The author profoundly provides an explanation of the spiritual, emotive and mental fettle of the characters. The pivotal focus is not exactly on the pattern of writing, but the manner the " chosen" characters' behavior and their perspectives that finally pave the path for more complexities before the term " resolution" is pronounced by the author himself. On the other hand, the concept of psychological realism reached a dizzy height of growth and expansion through the unfathomable exploration of the human soul and the exhaustive use of the flash back and stream of consciousness techniques. Initially, the term coined by William Jones, it was discovered that the growth of psychological novels merged with the development of some psychological modes and significant discoveries of Sigmund Freud.
In the literary firmament, the novels penned on human psychology and its eventual analysis and application are simply innumerable. Ranging from the narratives of Nashe, Deloney, Dofoe and Smollett and the " Pickwick Papers" of Dickens offer " little evidence of the analysis of characters that commonly precede the action". With the passage of time, the novelists like George Eloit and Meredith appeared on the screen. Analysis of characters, aims and motives, questing flashlights into the kingdoms of consciousness sum up the principle attraction of their novels. Say for instance in " Adam Bede" , Eliot depicts the peregrination of Hetty Sorrel in hope and despair. The minute analysis of the mental tussel of Hetty Sorrel is truly something novel and laudable in the novelistic technique.
Further, with Henry James the psychological fiction passes from the external incidents that manage to incite the " mental and spiritual " activity of the play of " thought, feeling and sensation ". In his opinion , " the satisfaction of an appetite for a closer notation, a sharper specification of the signs of life, of consciousness of the human scene and the human subject in general than the three or four generations before us had been at all moved to insist on" ( Notes on Novelists).
Gradually the modern era arrived with a dash of élan. The modern psychological fiction delves "down to the dark realms of the sub consciousness where not notation but only evocation is possible". Writers like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson changed the fiction's angle from the " external to the internal reality, from the outer world to the hidden world of fantasy and reverie ".
Conrad is another modern novelist of this particular genre. He loves to interpret the life at sea, the verdant forests and the hue of his fantasy caters the impression of that life. Conrad in " The Nigger of the Narcissus" looks within to delineate the impact of the solitary sea on his characters. Besides, D H Lawrence, being a psychological novelist and poet communicates adroitly, in an extraordinary manner with the vivid sense of living beings. Ipso facto he attempts to showcase the man's primitive instincts and impulses that emerge from the sub conscious status of mind and are regarded as his safest guides. Moreover, the exhaustive use of symbolic overtones and cemented bonds suggest his " gospel of primitiveness ". Say for instance in his poem " The Snake", the poet is beheld to be caught between the horns of dilemma, whether to kill the snake or leave the creature alive. The surging emotions that take its root in mind have deeply exemplified his nature of actions!
Introducing a new catch of realism of fugitive thoughts is intensely discovered in Joyce's "Ulysses"- a twenty four hour account of the protagonist. Here the author has essayed to convey more elusive and evanescent thoughts. In " The Waves", Woolf uses the technique of interior monologue and helps the readers get introduced to the consciousness of six prime characters, each different from the other in a subtle fashion. However, they are observed with care in different stages, as they manage to transcend from the phase of childhood to the phase of growth and maturity before death engulfs them with all its strength and might. The rigorous use of metaphor adds an extra dimension to the richness of the innate status of characters "they move and flow from one moment to another".
Nevertheless, the socio - psychological realism has consumed the heart and soul of the avid readers. The novelists not only introduced this unique technique to explore and examine the layers of mind of the characters dealt with but also portrayed them with consummate skill and practice. Unlike other kinds of novel, this particular thread takes the readers to a different high of curiosity that overwhelms the sense of prudence and enable them to identify their " present tense" with them. After all, the thoughts emerge in mind and end in the mind itself, following a cyclic pattern of nature!!
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