Letters to the Editor
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consciousness
I have been a novelist for almost thirty years, and in that time, the way my mind works has changed. I am very self-conscious now, because I am almost always examining my own thoughts for a useful notion or idea. I've also read lots of novels, and so I am aware of the idea of the inner narrator, and that there is often a voice that is separate from but attached to the action. I am also aware of how images appear in the mind--some parts in focus, others not (how could it be otherwise?). My mind is like a vast library of images, some of which I've seen, others of which I've concocted from reading books. My dreams have also changed and become more narrative over the years. Does a pre-literate child have self-consciousness? I don't know. But anyone who has been reading books for any amount of time does--because the author's consciousness arouses a sense in the reader of something different and therefore contrasting to what the reader senses in himself. Doesn't matter whether Daniel Dennett says it's there or not--it is not his experience, and therefore he can't know. All he can know is that he doesn't have a consciousness. But Dorothy does.