on character in fiction

[Mark Kohut]

The philosopher's distinction within this piece between Narratives and
Episodics is one of the latest ways to see that a writer like Pynchon knew
early , ratched up conceptually even, what has happened to human character in our modern world. And his fiction reflects that against the largely narrative-only understanding of character in such as Wood and Kakutani.

Virginia Woolf: Round about 1910, human nature changed. 

many modernists thru postmodernists have long argued that to 'get' the modern world, art about it must change. 


Excerpt from the article below:
"Episodics consider their “self” to be in a state of continuous flux. What happened to them a year ago happened to a different person than the person they are now—the past has no bearing on present experience. (“I actually said that? I couldn’t have!”) In this view, Episodics are sober, disenchanted beings, alive to the principle of ceaseless change that drives human existence."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574308530848197684.html