The 2003 film on Virginia Woolf - THE HOURS had regenerated a lot of interest in the writer who has never been read as mush she was discussed.
Woolf had begun to to write professionally in 1900, initially for journalistic pieces about Haworth and Bronte family. Her first novel, The Voyage Out, was published in 1915 by her half-brother's imprint, Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd. But from the very begining of her career, Woolf had to face various types of criticism. Woolf's work was criticised for epitomising the narrow world of the upper-middle class English intelligentsia. Some critics judged it to be lacking in universality and depth, without the power to communicate anything of emotional or ethical relevance to the disillusioned common reader,weary of the 1920s . She was also criticised by some as an anti-Semite, despite her being happily married to a Jewish man. This anti-semitism is drawn from the fact that she often wrote of Jewish characters in stereotypical archetypes and generalisations, including describing some of her Jewish characters as physically repulsive and dirty.
But none of the above mentioned facts were responsible ever for her sales. She had sold all through the 20th century. But these days very few readers read Woolf. This is because of the language and the strange literary style called 'internal monologue' that she and James Joyce (author of Ulysess) had started.
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness or internal monologue is seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought process either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow. Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person, which is used chiefly in poetry or drama. In stream of consciousness, the speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself); it is primarily a fictional device. The term was introduced to the field of literary studies from that of psychology, where it was coined by philosopher and psychologist William James.
This style is gradually losing its apeal in a fast moving world of today. It is would not be a surprise, if in future Woolf is remembered more for the way she was portrayed by Nicol Kidman in the hollywood flick rather than her original books once well read in the university campuses.
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| Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf |
But none of the above mentioned facts were responsible ever for her sales. She had sold all through the 20th century. But these days very few readers read Woolf. This is because of the language and the strange literary style called 'internal monologue' that she and James Joyce (author of Ulysess) had started.
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness or internal monologue is seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought process either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow. Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person, which is used chiefly in poetry or drama. In stream of consciousness, the speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself); it is primarily a fictional device. The term was introduced to the field of literary studies from that of psychology, where it was coined by philosopher and psychologist William James.
This style is gradually losing its apeal in a fast moving world of today. It is would not be a surprise, if in future Woolf is remembered more for the way she was portrayed by Nicol Kidman in the hollywood flick rather than her original books once well read in the university campuses.
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