REVISING <i>JACOB'S ROOM</i>: VIRGINIA WOOLF, WOMEN, AND LANGUAGE

Flint, Kate

doi:10.1093/res/xlii.167.361

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In her most famous essay, Modern Fiction, originally published in April 1919 as Modern Novels, Woolf had criticized certain of her contemporaries for producing novels with such a tightly constructed plot that they made human existence appear quite different from what we experience in our daily lives (Goldman, 2006: 103-106). The fragmented fabric of Jacob's Room -its relatively loose organization -is essentially due to the need to address the crucial question, posed in Modern Fiction, regarding the possible form of the fictional presentation of life, once freed from the constraints and inadequacies of literary conventions (Flint, 1992). In her critical essay, Woolf describes the task of the modern novelist as follows:…”

Section: Modern Fiction or The Relevance Of Irrelevancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The highly impressionistic, self-reflexive narrative draws the protagonist essentially as an absence in the lives of others. As the title tellingly suggests, the novel is focused on the empty room -the intimate and social space occupied by Jacob, and the emotional vacuum left among those who loved him (Bishop, 2004;Flint, 1992). The theme of absence seems to pervade the novel from the very beginning.…”

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Jacob's Room, 3) The opening paragraph depicts the figure of Betty Flanders, Jacob's widowed mother, sitting on a beach and writing a tearstained letter, while her two sons are playing nearby. Beginning in medias res, the dramatic incipit focuses on the conclusive statement of the letter: "there was nothing for it but to leave".…”

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…'Well, if Jacob doesn't want to play' (the shadow of Archer, her eldest son, fell across the notepaper and looked blue on the sand, and she felt chilly -it was the third of September already), 'if Jacob doesn't want to play' -(Jacob's Room, 3) The events in the first part of the novel are narrated from the point of view of Betty Flanders. She is the one who opens the narrative: sitting on the beach in front of the bay, she is writing a letter, while her sons Archer and Jacob are playing round about.…”

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tell him to come at once.' (Jacob's Room, 3) Archer then runs to look for his brother, making Jacob's name echo among the rocks, with an articulate cry full of anguish, repeated at regular intervals:…”

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Between Parentheses: The Poetics of Irrelevance in Virginia Woolf’s Experimental Fiction

Roccia

2017

Eur. j. lang. lit. stud.

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The understanding and appreciation of Virginia Woolf's modernist fiction demands careful attention, not only for the obvious complexity of its experimental form but also for the apparent simplicity of certain typographical and stylistic devices. Among these is the use of parenthetical expressions, consisting of explanatory or qualifying remarks inserted into a passage and usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas. Generally speaking, the main functions fulfilled by parentheticals have been examined and classified by Woolf scholars. What has received less critical attention, however, is the intrinsic nature of parenthetical constructions and the subtle, multifaceted implications of their actual functioning within the overall economy of every single novel. The purpose of this paper is to address a similar question, beginning with a preliminary delimitation of the scope of the analysis. Firstly, among the different types of the so-called 'parenthetical expressions' only the explicit use of parentheses (in the form of round or square brackets) will be assumed as a distinctive feature in order to identify a specific category of stylistic and narrative devices. Secondly, and quite obviously, the novel under consideration will be, in particular, To the Lighthouse (1927), inasmuch as it provides the most striking examples of the disruptive potential contained in Woolf's parenthetical writing. A good point of departure for such an analysis, however, can be found in Jacob's Room (1922), Woolf's first experimental novel, which shows a long and compound sentence, inserted between brackets, significantly placed in the opening page of the book.

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Section: Modern Fiction or The Relevance Of Irrelevancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jacob's Room: a Parenthetical Intimation Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

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