BASIC CONCEPTS

— When novelists claim they do not invent it, but hear voices and find stories in their head, they are neither joking nor crazy.

— When characters, narrators, or muses have minds of their own and occasionally take over, they are alternate personalities.

— Alternate personalities and memory gaps, but no significant distress or dysfunction, is a normal version of multiple personality.

— normal Multiple Personality Trait (MPT) (core of Multiple Identity Literary Theory), not clinical Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

— The normal version of multiple personality is an asset in fiction writing when some alternate personalities are storytellers.

— Multiple personality originates when imaginative children with normal brains have unassuaged trauma as victim or witness.

— Psychiatrists, whose standard mental status exam fails to ask about memory gaps, think they never see multiple personality.

— They need the clue of memory gaps, because alternate personalities don’t acknowledge their presence until their cover is blown.

— In novels, most multiple personality, per se, is unnoticed, unintentional, and reflects the author’s view of ordinary psychology.

— Multiple personality means one person who has more than one identity and memory bank, not psychosis or possession.

— Euphemisms for alternate personalities include parts, pseudonyms, alter egos, doubles, double consciousness, voice or voices.

— Multiple personality trait: 90% of fiction writers; possibly 30% of public.

— Each time you visit, search "name index" or "subject index," choose another name or subject, and search it.

— If you read only recent posts, you miss most of what this site has to offer.

— Share site with friends.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

"Flowers in the Attic" (post 3) by V. C. Andrews: Characters Hear Voices in Their Head or Speak Using Voices of Alternate Personalities

“Go away, run away, spring was approaching, we had to leave soon, before it was too late. A voice inside, intuitive, kept drumming out this tune” (1, p. 316).


“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m surviving.” And then I said good night in a voice that didn’t even sound like me.

“Good night Cathy,” he said, using someone else’s voice, too.” (1, p. 323).


“My instinct was shouting loud: Wake him up!  My suspicions whispered slyly, keep quiet, don’t let him know; he won’t want you…” (1, p. 328).


Comment: Above probably reflected author’s multiple personality trait.


1. V. C. Andrews. Flowers in the Attic. 40th Anniversary Edition. With a Foreword by Gillian Flynn. New York, Gallery Books, 1979/2019.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment (whether you agree or disagree) and ask questions (simple or expert). I appreciate your contribution.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)