Persona literally means "mask ", although it does not usually refer to a literal mask but to the "social masks" all humans supposedly wear.

A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. A role (sometimes spelled rôle) or a social role is a set of connected Behaviors Rights and Obligations as conceptualized by actors An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works The word derives from the Latin for "mask" or "character", derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Etruscan Language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria (modern Tuscany plus western

The Persona in literature

Criticism of poetry and fiction refer to a "second self" created by the author and through whom the narrative is related. Importantly, attributes and attitudes associated with the persona are understood to be separate from authorial intentions, per se, though there may in fact be some overlap between the two. For instance, in Dostoevsky's novel, Notes from Underground (generally considered to be the first existentialist novel), the narrator ought not to be conflated with Dostoevsky himself, despite the fact that Dostoevsky and his narrator may or may not have shared much in common. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, Notes from Underground (Записки из подполья Zapíski iz podpól'ja, also translated in English as Notes from the Underground Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives and that this essence follows from their existence In this sense, the persona is basically a mouthpiece for a particular worldview. A comprehensive world view (or worldview) is a term Calqued from the German word Weltanschauung ( Welt is the German Another instance of this phenomenon can be found in Brett Easton Ellis' novel, American Psycho, the story of a sociopathic murderer living in New York City, who is a successful, if very troubled, Wall Street executive by day. Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964 in Los Angeles California) is an American author. American Psycho is a Thriller novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1991 Antisocial personality disorder ( APD) is a Mental disorder.It is defined by the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnostic and Statistical The City of New York Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The work is one of social satire, and as such may well reflect a good deal of authorial intention, but the persona of Patrick Bateman (the novel's first-person narrator) ought not to be conflated with the novel's author. Patrick Bateman is a Fictional character, the Anti-hero and Narrator of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

In both of the examples just given, the persona is an active participant in the story he is narrating — it is his own story — but this need not be the case. To take another example from Dostoevsky's work, the narrator of The Brothers Karamazov is not an active participant in the story, but nevertheless presents a clear perspective on the events concerned therein. The Brothers Karamazov (Братья Карамазовы /'bratʲjə karə'mazəvɨ/ is the final Novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky In other words, the invisible and omniscient narrator of Dostoevsky's novel gives the reader the impression of taking a definite attitude toward the proceedings being related, albeit subtly so, and mainly by tone of description and idiosyncratic phrasing.

Finally, the twentieth century has provided us with many intermediate instances. One example is Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, a story told entirely via the interior monologues of fifteen different first person narrators, and thus from the same number of differing perspectives. William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author As I Lay Dying is a Novel written by the American author William Faulkner. A monologue is an extended uninterrupted speech or poem by a single person Another example of a vague or undefined relationship between narrator, protagonist, and persona--perhaps the preeminent such example in the English language--can be found in James Joyce's novel, Ulysses. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 Here we find instances of direct first person narration, third person narration mixed with first person stream of consciousness, dozens of pages of catechismic question-and-answer, a surrealistic stageplay-like episode with dialogue and stage directions, and finally the famous extended first person stream of consciousness soliloquy that closes the book. A catechism (ˈkætəkɪzəm κατηχισμός is a summary or exposition of Doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament A monologue is an extended uninterrupted speech or poem by a single person Examples such as these tend to blur or call into question the role of a persona, at the same time as they supply rich fodder for academic analyses of the works themselves.

To sum up, a persona can, broadly-speaking, be understood as the "organizing consciousness" of the narrative. This clearly differentiates it from any characters, even major and well-developed ones, who do not steer the reader's perspective on the proceedings. However, in some very well-defined cases, the question might arise: Why bother positing an organizing consciousness, understood on some level to be separate from that of the author, at all? Different schools of criticism will have differing answers to this question, and some — the post-structuralist school, for instance — might take issue with the very notion of a single organizing consciousness. Post-structuralism encompasses the intellectual developments of continental philosophers and critical theorists who wrote with tendencies of twentieth-century But in general, the practice is adopted as a handy way of understanding the guiding principles of a work without treading too far into disputes about what a particular author was "really like" or "really thought about things" in his or her own personal life.

Charles Dickens and William Blake, for instance, were widely known to have progressive attitudes regarding the difficulties faced by the working classes in Victorian England and the effect of England's industrial revolution on contemporary life, respectively, and their attitudes were clearly reflected in their work. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the But other cases are not so clear-cut. Very little is known about the life of Thomas Pynchon, but his books, in particular, Gravity's Rainbow, have achieved iconic status in modern Western literature. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr (born May 8 1937 is an American writer based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of Fiction. Gravity's Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28 1973. Furthermore, if the interpretation of a work is taken to be fundamentally the process of deciphering an author's personal feelings about various subjects — an attempt to understand the mens auctoris (mind of the author) — then it might be argued that literary criticism thereby degenerates into a kind of pseudo-psychoanalysis, leaving little room for consideration of the works themselves. Literary criticism is the study discussion evaluation and interpretation of Literature. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior Finally, and for similar reasons, the narrator-as-persotation allows for greater interpretive latitude, and thus arguably richer interpretive possibilities, than a more strictly authorially-centered approach might.

The Persona in psychology

The persona is also the mask or appearance one presents to the world. It may appear in dreams under various guises (see Carl Jung and his psychology). Dreams are the images sounds thoughts and feelings experienced while Sleeping, particularly strongly associated with Rapid eye movement sleep. Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced Importantly, the persona, used in this sense, is not a pose or some other intentional misrepresentation of the self to others. Rather, it is the self as self-construed, and may change according to situation and context.

The Persona in design

As used in the design field, the Persona is an artifact that consists of a narrative relating to a desired user or customer's daily behavior patterns, using specific details, not generalities. A very popular artifact is the 'persona poster' that is usually presented in an 18 inch format with photo and text. For more details see Personas. Personas are fictitious characters that are created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a site or product

The Persona in communication studies

In the study of communication, persona is a term given to describe the versions of self that all individuals possess. Behaviours are selected according to the desired impression an individual wishes to create when interacting with other people. Therefore, personae presented to other people vary according to the social environment the person is engaged in, in particular the persona presented before others will differ from the persona an individual will present when he/she happens to be alone.

See also

• Alter ego
• Archetypal psychology
• Jungian psychology
• Mask
• Dramatis personae
• Doppelgänger
• Death mask
• Fursona
• proton persona