Welcome to The Weekly Read by Drew Lane, a newsletter for short story aficionados and those curious about literature, music, and the craft of fiction.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed last Sunday's short story and had a nice week.
Today, I'd like to introduce you to two novels by Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.
If you don't know this author or would like to refresh your memory, this video is a concise and beautiful watch.
I discovered Woolf a few years ago with a Room of One's Own, her essay on literary potential and inequalities, but it's only after a friend introduced me to Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse that I started to understand her style and approach.
I. To the Lighthouse
Ranked amongst the 20th century Top 100 English-language novels, To the Lighthouse follows the Ramsay family in their vacation house and immerses the reader into the 1910s-1920s.
The story may seem simple at first- the characters only want to go see the Lighthouse - but it is quite complex.
It isn't plot-driven (i.e. full of action, twists and turns) but rather centred around contemplation and realisations on the ephemeral nature of life, memory and bonds.
Besides, it is told from changing points of view.
The characters are all very different and each comes with their own motivations and concerns. Their unique voices all bring a different perspective to each theme.
What gives unison to the ensemble is Mrs Ramsay, one of the main characters. Her key concern throughout the book is to bring people together to enjoy the moment and forget about their worries.
Human connection is hence a structuring theme, but it's not the only one.
Time is equally important and the story covers a full spectrum of events, from infinitely slow moments to lifetimes running by.
And of course, tipping points.
The outbreak of war in the novel splits it into two distinct parts. "Two worlds connected by a corridor", as Woolf puts it. It alters the passing of time and also the perception of events as everything becomes relative.
A modernist, Woolf uses stream of consciousness and free indirect discourse to relate the complex web of thoughts hanging by and ready to fade.
Just like time.
This video summarises the story, context and structure very well.
II. Mrs Dalloway
Mrs Dalloway is also a character-driven story (i.e. not a heavy plot) and it happens in one day.
It took quite some time for Woolf to find the right format to reflect her characters' rich inner lives and to give the reader an understanding of their minds.
Despite the seemingly mundanities happening on that day, (e.g. Mrs Dalloway buying flowers for her party), the story covers various themes and introduces the reader to post-WWI London.
Themes in the novel include:
ambiguous modernity (with planes as shadows of WWI and cabs and movies as promises for new forms of socialisation)
memory and age as building blocks for personality (what shapes us and how?)
trees as the symbol of inner strength and outliving (anchor amid continuous change)
mental health (one of her characters is a war veteran and Mrs Dalloway herself is depressed)
the passing of time, again, to Big Ben's impassible toll
Woolf also wanted to show her characters' fantasies and projections. For the reader to grasp them, she needed more than internal monologues or an omniscient narrator. She therefore decided to show how her characters were perceived from the outside.
To that effect, she used multiple perspectives (just like painters with cubism), and stream of consciousness (just like in To the Lighthouse). This provides contrasting views on the characters: internal monologue vs how others perceive them.
Mrs Dalloway oscillates between thoughts and states - which also shows how time can be suspended when one's thoughts are agitated.
You can find a great summary of the book in this video.
Both To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway are complex reads - because of the unconventional techniques Woolf uses and the seemingly wandering thoughts of her characters.
Nevertheless they provide for an interesting reflexion on the passing of time, memories and bonds.
Three themes my next article will address.
I wish you a great week by then.
See you next Sunday.
Drewly Yours,