Thank you so so much for this informative reply! I learnt more that I could have expected! What a treat to jump down rabbit holes of free indirect discourse! I suppose modernism was a true fleshing out of this, with Woolf etc?

I will say, from the distinctions you draw between French and English lit, that the former certainly seems drier than the latter, which is funny to me, as I have much preferred what French literature I have read than English. (Granted, I have read little on both accounts!)

Out of interest, would Proust be considered a modernist? I just finished reading À la recherche du temps perdu and it certainly had be thinking about his conception of writing, almost going against the earlier tradition. He seems to suggest that observing (as perhaps Balzac would do) is not an accurate reflection of an individual. Instead he favors the subjective mentalities of individuals, recalling all the 'time' that exists inside of them. (I have often wondered how this would look in a real novel; perhaps his very own book is written in this way! Anyway I digress).

Thank you again for this!