Fictions of the Mind: A Psychoanalytical and Cognitive Narratological Analysis of Mediacy in D.H. Lawrence’s <i>The Fox</i>

Abstract

As its main goal, this study seeks to contribute to the analysis of narrative discourse by investigating the strategies and devices provided by modern prose fictions like D.H. Lawrence’s The Fox for constructing/representing fictional minds or the consciousness of fictional characters in narrative texts. The paper is structured in two sections. Drawing from the insights of both Classical and Poststructuralist narratology, the theoretical section of this paper brings together narratological theories, methods, concepts and devices for representing textual minds and consciousness: psychonarration, free indirect discourse (narrated monologue), interior monologue, stream of consciousness, focalization, reflectorization, cognitive methods, and devices of mental states. The second is the analytical section which constitutes a practical demonstration of how the above narratological methods, concepts and devices can fulfill descriptive, interpretive and analytical functions with respect to the question of how fictional minds and consciousness are represented or manifested in modern narratives. On the whole, the paper attempts to answer the question, which narratological categories and methods are relevant for the analysis of mind-related aspects of narrative discourse? For illustrative purposes, D. H. Lawrence’s The Fox is used as staging grounds.