A Deep Dive into Virginia Woolf

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Me, apparently.

It was finally time to read the modernist pioneer. I had avoided her, mostly because of her supposed political bent, which, according to most reviews of her writing, sits clearly on every page.

I started with Orlando. As the clock struck midnight and Orlando gave her final anguished cry I was shocked. The novel was brilliant; it had depth, humor and imagination. I relished the time spent pouring over its pages and devouring its lyrical narrative. Moreover, I found that the political nature of her work was completely misjudged. I saw in Orlando a powerful meditation about individuality rather than a vengeful and sharp political statement.

Would the rest of her work offer this same surprise?

Mrs. Dalloway

After Orlando, I went back and read the books chronologically.

Mrs. Dalloway is considered a prime example of Woolf’s talent in stream-of-consciousness writing. The novel is spread out over a single day and follows Clarissa Dalloway — among many other minor characters — who is preparing for a party that evening. As the day progresses, Mrs. Dalloway encounters unpredictable reunions with past lovers and reflects on her choices in youth. The book provides an interesting look into the mind of an upperclass woman and pays tribute to the seemingly mundane problems of everyday life.

Perhaps more enthralling than the character of Mrs. Dalloway is Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of the First World War who suffers from PTSD. The combined perspectives of Smith, who is slowly unraveling, and his wife, who struggles to deal with his hallucinations, offer a unique look into the inner workings of a marriage plagued with the real ramifications of memory.

Notably, this book — like many of Woolf’s novels — does a spectacular job at dignifying multiple perspectives. That is, the reader sympathizes with many of the characters, even characters seemingly at odds with each other. While you pity the difficulties that Septimus Warren Smith experiences from his disorder, you also sympathize with his wife and her inability to understand Smith. While you root for Mrs. Dalloway as the main character, you will also find severe character flaws that prevent you from fully sympathizing with her.

My main criticism is that the book lacked the same depth I loved in Orlando. Unsurprisingly, there is little plot — all of Woolf’s novels are more character-driven than plot-driven — but where Woolf usually makes up for this in profound and weighty characters, the people who populate Mrs. Dalloway can feel quite one-dimensional.

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Recommended for anyone who likes: Complicated relationships, troubled pasts, inner dialogues.

To the Lighthouse

To the Lighthouse begins with a day in the life of the Ramsay family and their guests at their seaside vacation home. The novel is split into three sections: the first taking place over a single day, the second journeying through a momentous exploration of time, and the third gliding through a moment many years into the future.

Similar to many of Woolf’s novels, To the Lighthouse boasts great depth in its characters. Again, Woolf highlights how people can experience the same event so differently by contrasting the perspectives of two people in a single moment. The best example of this is seen with Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. You find yourself sympathizing with both characters: she is too emotional, controlling and cold, whereas Mr. Ramsay is too strict, weak and distracted.

The first part of the book is interesting in its character exploration, but the second part, “Time Passes,” saves the novel. It is engrossing; pages filled with beautiful and haunting images of the Ramsays’ home as it passes through time, changing and decaying. Within this unnerving exploration, Woolf casually mentions — often in only a single sentence — significant, and often devastating, moments in the Ramsays’ lives. It is within this section of the book that I truly recognized Woolf’s innovative approach to narrating memory and time.

The second part of the book adds a darkness that is not present in the first part, nor in much of Woolf’s work. Read the book if only to experience this temporal journey — it will be well worth it!

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Recommended for anyone who likes: books with strange time constraints, character development, dual perspectives, familial strife.

Orlando

Ah, Orlando.

Orlando follows a young nobleman in times of Queen Elizabeth. He is obsessed with poetry, and hopes to one day become a great poet. Early in the book, he meets Sasha, a Russian princess who he plans to run away with, and when she does not show up to their meeting spot, Orlando is devastated. He asks to be sent away as an ambassador in Turkey, and, after much success, he falls asleep for a week and wakes up to find himself a woman. Eventually he — she — returns to England and continues to confront the challenges of a poetic life — all of which happens within a timespan of 300 years.

Woolf continues her unique approach towards time in Orlando; the novel spans hundreds of years, beginning in the 1600s and ending in 1928 — ironically on the same day that the novel itself was published. Surprisingly, the book does not devote much time or notice to all these years passing; Orlando never comments on it, and his acceptance adds a particularly magical element to the story.

As a character, Orlando is constantly reworked and developed. Woolf’s masterful descriptions are used as a vehicle to further explore Orlando’s character, and her personification of the environment forces you to reconsider mundane realities in a new and interesting way. Oftentimes, Woolf uses these moments to explore philosophy; Orlando presents stark insights on life, literature, time, and identity, placing the novel firmly in the borderlands of philosophy.

Although many point to this book as a feminist novel, I didn’t read the novel as such a work. Rather, I saw Orlando’s change from man to woman as her attempting to reconcile all her different selves. In my reading, Orlando changing gender is meant more as a metaphor for the different selves that lie within us. As Woolf narrates near the close of the story, “Changing her selves as quickly as she drove, there was a new one at every corner.”

This is a novel with a deeper message than merely a commentary on gender, and I hope that future readings will move past such a simple explanation to explore its much more profound meaning.

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Recommend for anyone who likes: German Romanticism, time, memory, the perils of being a writer.

The Waves

Despite its reputation as a masterpiece, this was my least favorite of Woolf’s novels — dare I say, I hated it.

The Waves follows the lives of six people, from childhood to adulthood. During this time, they each individually narrate their lives and reflect on their shared experiences.

However, it was this very structure which made me struggle with the novel. Namely, I felt that there was nothing to hang on to. Woolf’s signature stream-of-consiousness writing goes so rouge that I had a hard time following any sort of plot or structural element of the novel.

This feeling of being untethered started in the first pages in which Woolf begins with all the characters as children. Their dialogue and thoughts are written as if they were thirty years old; this failure to convincingly develop the characters’ thoughts and communication prevented me from fully immersing myself in the work. In other words, it was very difficult believing the world of the story when it was trying to convince me that 6 year olds knew words like “harlequin.” 

Overall, I was not impressed with The Waves, and while many will argue that its confusing narration is what makes it a masterpiece, it made it plainly just hard to connect with and understand.

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Recommended for anyone who likes: modernism, stream-of-consiousness writing, Books that don’t make sense.

Between the Acts

After the chaos of The Waves, Between the Acts was a delightful final read in my journey with Virginia Woolf. Similar to many of her other books, Between the Acts takes place over a single day. It is June, 1939, and a small town in the English countryside is preparing for the annual pageant which will present to viewers scenes from English history.

The novel is, once again, much more character-driven than plot-driven, as the event of the pageant serves as a backdrop for the drama of the villagers’ lives. Its depiction of the English countryside is very realistic and presents a lyrical narrative of village life. While the characters have individuality and present some thoughtful musings on life and love, they are less developed than some of Woolf’s previous characters.

However, Between the Acts offers something new in Woolf’s works: a pleasant read that celebrates the little dramas and joys of everyday life.

Recommended for anyone who likes: cozy reads, small town drama, theatre.

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Below are recommended books that are mentioned in the post or provide great additional insight into the topic.

Maggie RymszaComment