What are the main features of the Modernist fiction?
Firstly, in the Modernist fiction there's a peculiar attention to the character's subjectivity, as for example in Mrs Dalloway. Furthermore, the main topics are the feelings and emotions of the characters, differently from the traditional novel where they are the events. Also, in the modernist fiction the plot is reduced to the minimum. Therefore, the center is the reflection on the consciousness and on the stream of consciousness.
How are the character's emotions conveyed by the narrator? What are the techniques used to express them?
One technique is the use of a third person free omniscient narrator, that it's not intrusive and does not express his opinion, like the traditional novel's narrator.
Why is the reader free?
He's free because he can makes his personal idea about what he reads. On the contrary, in the traditional novel the reader is not free because everything he reads it's filtered.
What is the eclipse of the narrator?
It's the opposite to the narrator intrusiveness as here the narrator can't be seen but it's still present. This is achieved by shifting in the character's mind.
What is the free indirect style?
It's the use of reporting what the characters feel, think and sense. Another technique is the shift of the point of view.
What is the chronological arrangement of time?
The narrator focuses on the inner side of the character, attempting a simultaneous concept.
What makes time simultaneous in Modernist fiction?
The consciousness makes time simultaneous, as there past, present and future coexist. Therefore, there's a disregard to a chronological arrangement.