This paper explores the role of the meditative mind in modernist literature
and theories of consciousness. Modernist authors, such as Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, and William Faulkner, are known for their fascination with subjective perception and self-conscious interiority, as well as representations of trauma and illness. This paper shows how the hitherto unexplored trajectory of the meditative mind provides an intriguing countercurrent to our vision of modernist literature as foregrounding shock and wounds. The paper sheds light on what happens to the concept of meditation when it enters literature and shows that literary authors help us understand the meditative mind.
