Representing stream of consciousness in comics: definition and categorization

Abstract

This article explores the definition and nature of stream of consciousness in comic by drawing strength from discussion upon related topics in literary criticism and comics studies. It argues that stream-of-consciousness depiction in comics could be divided into three categories according to whether such depiction could be attributed to a character or not. In comics, impersonal representation of inner flows becomes possible by virtue of the monstrator which governs the pictorial sequence. Meanwhile, there are also in-between situations when it is difficult to determine whether the focused mind is that of a character or an impersonal extradiegetic narrator.