Knowra Psychological realism Psychological realism A mode of fiction that emphasizes characters’ inner states, motives, and emotional changes. It presents behavior as shaped by complex mental and emotional lives.
Stream of consciousness : A narrative technique that represents the continuous flow of a character’s thoughts and perceptions. It gives direct form to the shifting thoughts psychological realism seeks to portray.
The novel : A long work of prose fiction that develops characters and events across an extended narrative. The novel’s scope made sustained attention to private motives and emotional change possible.
Clarissa : A 1748–1749 epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson about a young woman resisting her family’s coercion. Its letters trace Clarissa’s moral reasoning and emotional ordeal at length.
Naturalism : A literary movement that depicts human behavior as shaped by heredity, environment, and social conditions. Naturalism foregrounds determining forces, while psychological realism may focus more on subjective experience.
Free indirect discourse : A narrative mode that blends a third-person narrator’s voice with a character’s language and perspective. It conveys a character’s judgments without separating them from the narration.
Samuel Richardson : An English novelist whose epistolary works include Pamela and Clarissa. His letters and diaries presented emotion and moral deliberation from within.
Pride and Prejudice : A 1813 novel by Jane Austen about Elizabeth Bennet, her family, and her changing judgment of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth’s misreadings and revised judgments make self-knowledge part of the plot.
Romanticism : An artistic and intellectual movement that emphasized imagination, intense feeling, and individual freedom. Psychological realism often qualifies idealized emotion with social context and self-deception.
Characterization : The creation and presentation of characters through traits, actions, speech, and relationships. Psychological realism deepens characterization by making motives and inner change central.
Jane Austen : An English novelist known for works including Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Her narration closely tracks characters’ judgments, misunderstandings, and self-correction.
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