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.

Friday, April 26, 2024

“The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks: Gratuitous signs of multiple personality probably reflect multiple personality trait of the author

“If you’re happy, Allie, and you love him, I won’t try to stop you from going back to him. But if there’s a part of you that isn’t sure, then don’t do it” (1, p. 47). Comment: Persons with undiagnosed multiple personality often refer to alternate personalities as “parts.”


“Damn, she thought, get a hold of yourself. Remember that you’re engaged now” (1, p. 52). Comment: “Thoughts” that address you in the third person may be from alternate personalties.


“Why did you come?” 

“I was compelled, she wanted to say, but didn’t” (1, p. 62).

Comment: A compulsion from inside may be from an alternate personality.


“…he couldn’t stop the voice inside his head…” (1, p. 66).

Comment: A rational, non-psychotic voice in one’s head may be from an alternate personality.


1. Nicholas Sparks. The Notebook. New York, Grand Central Publishing, 1996.

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)