Virginia Woolf: Life, Works, and Impact on Literature

Posted on Mar 14, 2024 in History

Virginia Woolf

She was born in 1882 in London into a highly intellectual family.
Her father was a philosopher and her brother studied at Cambridge University, she and her sister study at home.
She meets her brother’s friends, artists, intellectuals, literary critics and they form the ‘Bloomsbury Group’
Bloomsbury is the borough of London.
They rejected Queen Victoria and believed in art, friendship and social progress.
This group was very important and included many of the prominent figures of the time.
Virginia devoted herself to the feminist movement, campaigning for the vote for women
In 1912 she married Leonard Wolf and together they founded a printing house in 1917 called Hogarth.
She suffered from depression.
Her mother died when she was only 13 years old.
Her father died in 1904 and after two years her brother died leading her to a psychological breakdown.
She died in 1941 by committing suicide in a river

Her main works are:

  • Mrs Dalloway
  • To the Lighthouse
  • Orlando, a Biography
  • The Waves
  • The Common Reader; a collection of her best essays and critical works, divided into two volumes



Mrs Dalloway

It is a writing from 1925
It reflects the period in which it was written because it reflects the attitudes, opinions, feelings that the authors recalled of the First World War and its consequences.
This is in the character of Septimus Warren Smith, he was a young veteran, who returned from the world war suffering from mental disorders called bullet shock.
Virginia did not believe in the establishment of the political vision of the government at that time, for example in colonialism, and this attitude is reflected in ‘Peter Walsh’ a civil servant who works in India but who does not like the view of the empire, England was superior to other countries



Richard Dalloway

represents the establishment, he is a member of parliament
Clarissa is Richard’s wife and is the central character in the novel
Sally Seton is Clarissa’s best friend

When Clarissa was 18, she rejected Peter who showed his love, in favor of her husband Richard

The story is set in a single day of June 1933, in which Clarissa organized a party at home. The novel starts at 10 am with Clarissa going out to buy flowers for the party, and it ends at 10 pm with the end of the party.

There is a unity of time and place in the novel
The passing of the time is marked by the Big Ben strokes which all the characters feel, creating a union between them

There is an omniscient narrator who acts as a link between the characters to guide the reader


James Joyce

LIFE
He received an excellent education and took a degree in Modern Languages (French, Italian, Norwegian)
He could not stand the provincialism of Ireland.
In 1904, he met Nora Barnacle, his future wife and life-long companion.
They moved to Trieste, in Italy, where he worked as an English teacher for the Berlitz School.
One student of his and his good friend was Italo Svevo
When World War I broke out, he moved to Switzerland, Zurich

WORKS:

  • 1905 Dubliners
  • 1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  • 1922 Ulysses
  • 1939 Finnegans Wake






DUBLINERS (1914)

It’s a collection of 15 stories all set in Dublin.
The story of each character is interconnected in some way with those of the other characters: unity of setting + unity of experience.
The different phases of human life are portrayed: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (political, artistic, religious life).
Two important themes:

  • EPIPHANY: each protagonist of the stories has a moment of self-awareness, the sudden revelation of his true human condition in the middle of everyday activities and dull, ordinary routines.
  • PARALYSIS: it is the condition of the modern man in the impersonal, frenetic, city life: an unfulfilling job, an unhappy marriage, lack of friendship, the oppressiveness of religious and social conventions;

These frustrating and stifling circumstances make the characters UNABLE TO CHANGE their condition.

Introducing Dubliners Dubliners is a collection of short stories, although all the stories are interconnected and the book is intended to be read from beginning to end. They were first published as a collection in 1914. The stories are all set in and around Dublin, and most of the characters in the stories are from the middle classes, like Joyce himself. The reader can find other connections, too. For example, characters experience ‘epiphanies’- moments when they recognize. Joyce uses irony and humor when describing his characters and the details of their ordinary, everyday lives. This type of description makes his characters and settings extremely realistic. Joyce uses a wide number of techniques to bring his stories to life, and many critics think he used Dubliners to practice with different writing skills.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

It is a literary technique.
Its main aim was to render the free flux of thoughts of the characters on the page without any intervention of the author. It was achieved through a series of devices such as the fragmentation of the character’s perspective, the breaking of syntactic and grammar rules, and the overlapping of past and present events. The idea of the ‘stream of consciousness’ in literature was the result of the interactions of a series of important factors, such as:

  1. the influence of the theories of Sigmund Freud and the revaluation of the role of the unconscious;
  2. the theorization of the difference between objective (or chronological) and subjective (or inner) time made by the French philosopher Henri Bergson;
  3. a new conception of human consciousness by philosopher William James;
  4. the sense of anxiety, fragmentation, and loss caused by the experience of the First World War



James’ definition contains a revolutionary idea: by saying subjective life is not a chain or a train, James affirms that it cannot be organized in a rational way and cannot be described objectively. Human consciousness is a constantly flowing stream in which past and present events and perceptions coexist without boundaries. 19th-century narrative techniques are no longer able to represent the workings of modern consciousness, and new techniques are required.

The ‘stream of consciousness’ technique – with its break of grammar, syntax, and narrative rules – was used by Woolf and by many other authors of her times to describe this new ‘modern’ concept of life. The result was a series of novels and poems in which subjective perspective is fragmented, points of view shift, syntax is abolished, and thoughts flow freely as they do in the subject’s mind.

HISTORY

In the first part of the twentieth century, there were many changes. Under the Command of Edward VII (1901-1910) in 1906 social party wins the elections. new social reforms leading to changes such as a pension for the old people and help for sick and unemployed workers. However, this will not lead to an improvement in the economy, and therefore social unrest will be created. For this reason, the Labor Party will enter parliament by creating a total strike. Other important changes came in 1903 when The Suffragettes, the social and political union of women created by Emmeline required the right to vote for women. This will be granted 15 years later only women from age 30 and up. Another important side of the century was the Irish question. In fact, Ireland began to fight for its independence through several insurrections called ‘Easter Rising’ which will, however, be suppressed by the English army. However, they will not be useless fights for Ireland which thanks to Michael Collins (leader of the IRA) will reach a compromise. The southern part of Ireland becomes independent, and 6 northern countries remain under British control. After Edward VII, it was the time of George V. Meanwhile, more important problems arose. The First World War was born because of the various competitions between the states and above all because of the assassin of Archduke Ferdinand. Following the invasion of France by Germany through Belgium, England will declare war by allying itself with France and Russia forming the Triple Entente. The war began bringing with it 7,000,000 dead and 2,500,000 injured also due to the use of terrible technologies such as poisonous gases and tanks.

After the war, England will fall into a great industrial and economic decline which will lead most of the workers to strike. This will then be followed by the general strike announced by the trade unions congress bringing even more problems to the country. In addition to this, England was then hit, like many other states, by the general depression caused by the fall of the Wall Street bank. In conclusion, we also get to confirm the idea of how wrong a government based on dictatorship or totalitarianism could be. Following the First World War, the commonwealth was also modified which thanks to the Balfour declaration established an equalitarian relationship between Britain and the dominated countries, also granting them full independence.

Thanks to dictators like Mussolini and Hitler, the Second World War will be born. After the invasion of Poland by Germany, England will declare war. Following several wars, it will become a world conflict that will also involve the United States and Japan. The war will then end in Europe on May 8 and in Japan with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The difficult year of the post-war boldly tackled five questions: the reform of schooling, the national insurance act (which provided further financial support for sick and unemployed people) and the national health service act (creating a service of free medical for everyone).

The twentieth century was a very important century for the United States that led it to be one of the greatest powers in the world. This is also thanks to the intervention of presidents like Roosevelt who will lead many reforms, especially in the economic field. A serious problem in America, however, will be the question of African Americans who did not yet enjoy all rights. The problem was then solved when President Johnson guaranteed the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed this democratic act. During World War I, President Wilson led America. At first, he tried to keep it neutral, but later he will make a great contribution to defeating Germany. After the war, America enjoyed a great period of prosperity both in the economic and industrial fields which made the country even more impressive.

Great American economy that will stop after the fall of the Wall Street bank which will lead to a total decline in the American economy. However, thanks to the help of men like Roosevelt through a ‘New Deal’ policy that regulated the stock market, banks, and business, the situation was regularized.
After the years of depression, there will be the Second World War which will also see America as a protagonist after the attack received by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor. America will be very important on several occasions such as the landings in Sicily, Normandy, and the use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the end of the war, the world situation will change considerably, especially due to the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union. In fact, 2 opposite alliances will be created, NATO with America and the Warsaw Pact with the Soviet Union. 


LITERATURE

Modernism for the novel
The novel changes greatly.
Reality is not objective anymore:
the conscience of the individual, his/her psychological life is at the center of the narration.
New techniques develop: the interior monologue, the stream of consciousness.
Main characteristics: the narrator becomes invisible or disappears;
The plot is not a series of events in chronological order: events are presented through the minds of the characters, the flow of their thoughts, feelings, perceptions. Time is not linear: use of flashbacks

Modernism included and was influenced by different artistic movements, all of which were united in their attempt to rebel against the past and create new forms and styles in visual arts, literature, and music.
The main movements were:

  • Futurism, an artistic and literary movement that rebelled against the past and decomposed the subject to create a sense of dynamism in painting;
  • Cubism, which fragmented the subject into geometrical and abstract shapes;
  • Expressionism, which was characterized by distorted forms and by radical experimentation in the use of colors to convey an idea of anxiety;
  • Surrealism, which gave importance to the world of the unconscious and used art to represent it.


common recurring features:

  • Fragmentation of the narrative point of view and of a traditional plot in favor of a multi-layered and complex narration;
  • Redefinition of the traditional concepts of time and place, which are represented as subjective, rather than objective dimensions;
  • Use of experimental narrative techniques that aim to render the flux of thoughts that characterize the working of the mind;
  • Rejection of traditional grammar and punctuation in favor of unorthodox forms of expression;
  • Use of free verse and rejection of traditional verse forms in poetry;
  • Use of complex vocabulary and concepts.





James, for instance, wrote his novels from the point of view of one single character, adopting the ‘narrative consciousness’ technique. Conrad, on the other hand, chose to do the opposite: instead of adopting one single narrative viewpoint, he used multiple points of view as a means to give voice to the fragmented self of the characters.

Imaginism for poetry
Movement in poetry founded in 1920 by American poet Ezra Pound.
Key concept:

  1. poetry must create clear precise images in the mind of the reader.
  2. No expression of the poet’s feeling, but exact representation of experiences and things with a concise, objective language. Imagist poets often look for a union of ‘thought and passion’



Imagist artists and poets drew inspiration both from Symbolism, which broke the traditional metrical system and started to use free verse as a better means for expressing human feelings, and from the theories of the ‘aesthetic philosopher’, Thomas Ernest Hulme, who believed in the importance of ‘raw images’ as pure forms of expression.

The Imagist movement started in 1914 when Imagist artists published their manifesto. In it, they listed some of the aspects that would become structural elements of Modernist poetry, such as: • predominant use of common and non-decorative words or expressions; • free use of metrical forms; possibility of creating new rhythms to tackle new subjects; preference for a concise, rather dry style as a reaction to Romantic wordiness; • avoidance of vague concepts in favor of concreteness.

The influential role of Imagism, with its insistence on the ‘thing’ and on the avoidance of the words ‘that did not contribute to the presentation’ of a concept, explains only partially the stylistic and intellectual complexity of some of the major poetical works of Modernist literature. Among the other reasons for this were the influence of French Symbolist poetry and the revival of interest in 17th-century Metaphysical poetry that characterized the years that followed 1912 when a new edition of the poetical works of John Donne fed poets’ interest in Donne’s complexity, obscure images, and striking associations of ideas.