Western literature has descended socially and moved inward toward the unconscious

Evidence

The history of Western literature shows a movement downward and inward: downward through society from royalty to gentry to the middle classes to the lower classes to the dropouts; inward from heroic action to social drama to individual consciousness to the subconscious to the unconscious. What has remained consistent is that, for the time spent in an author’s world, we stand with the protagonist or protagonists, we “see their point of view,” and the fiction succeeds largely because we are willing to grant them a goodness that we would not grant them in life. — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 297

Categorization

• XREF: Recalls Ian Watt’s rise of the novel and the modern inward turn described in narrative theory. — connects to: Twentieth-century serious fiction turned inward toward the psychological; Novelists must look both inward and outward at once — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1017; Modern Western history moved from time-bias toward space-bias — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 621 (+2 more)

Related

• Twentieth-century serious fiction turned inward toward the psychological (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Twentieth-century serious fiction turned inward toward the psychological #corroborates (0.85)
• Novelists must look both inward and outward at once #complicates (0.60) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1017
• Modern Western history moved from time-bias toward space-bias #expands (0.40) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 621