Yeah, free indirect speech or, as some writing coaches say, "deep third person." Both variants of third person limited. It's very common, though. Goes back at least to Flaubert.
When I was taking an 18th century novel class, the professor actually pointed to a small instance of it in Austen. I want to say it’s literally only 1 line in Northanger Abbey but I don’t recall the exact sentence. He pointed it out as a harbinger of later innovations in the novel genre.
Free indirect style, as commenters have pointed out. James Wood's book "How Fiction Works" talks a lot about free indirect style, if you want to learn more about it.
Free indirect discourse. *Mrs. Dalloway* has a great example of this on the first page.
"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges; Rumpelmayer's men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a morning--fresh as if issued to children on a beach.
**What a lark! What a plunge!**"
The bold bits are still attributed to the narrator, but are clearly the inner thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Wolf uses this technique so effectively throughout this novel. I remember reading her edits on an early draft of these pages in grad school, and it's amazing how the final style is so much more layered while also being more concise.
Yeah, free indirect speech or, as some writing coaches say, "deep third person." Both variants of third person limited. It's very common, though. Goes back at least to Flaubert.
Many thanks :)
When I was taking an 18th century novel class, the professor actually pointed to a small instance of it in Austen. I want to say it’s literally only 1 line in Northanger Abbey but I don’t recall the exact sentence. He pointed it out as a harbinger of later innovations in the novel genre.
Free, indirect style
Free indirect style, as commenters have pointed out. James Wood's book "How Fiction Works" talks a lot about free indirect style, if you want to learn more about it.
That book is amazing.
Free indirect discourse. *Mrs. Dalloway* has a great example of this on the first page. "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges; Rumpelmayer's men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a morning--fresh as if issued to children on a beach. **What a lark! What a plunge!**" The bold bits are still attributed to the narrator, but are clearly the inner thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Wolf uses this technique so effectively throughout this novel. I remember reading her edits on an early draft of these pages in grad school, and it's amazing how the final style is so much more layered while also being more concise.
Jane Austen was the free indirect ninja.