All literary theories—except Multiple Identity Literary Theory—assume that novelists create what most people can’t create, but do not think differently

Standard literary theories are approaches to the interpretation of literary text. They are not theories about how literature is done. Their tacit assumption is that the novelist’s mind works, basically, the same way that everyone else’s mind does.

Most literary theorists allow that certain proclivities and experiences might inspire, enhance, and influence literary creativity—e.g., trauma, depression, gender, childhood, culture, socio-economic conditions, imagination—but they do not believe that the way novelists think is essentially different.

Do novelists themselves have a theory for their creativity? Henry James spoke of “the madness of art”; Doris Lessing of the “creative trance”; and Margaret Atwood of “duplicity,” a split between the writer’s everyday and writing personalities. All three novelists wrote fiction involving multiple personality, as have other novelists discussed in past posts.

Multiple Identity Literary Theory, the theory of this blog, is the only literary theory that addresses how novelists think (which sometimes helps you to understand what they wrote).