ABSTRACT

The image of the self as singular, immutable, and “true” is a compelling one, and one that pervades fiction in the Global North. But given that neuroscience has now confirmed what some sociologists and philosophers have long argued – that self is mutable and multiple – what does that mean for writers of commercial psychological realism, and how might we better reflect the complex nature of self in our work? This article investigates selected attempts to render the mutable, multiple self in fiction, and explores other methods in the writer’s toolkit that may help portray or convey a dialogic, rather than monologic and essential sense of self.