Scarica Virginia Woolf - Mind Map e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Virginia Woolf (1882- 1941) Biography Mrs. Dalloway (1925) To the lighthouse (1927) Psychological instability and abuse Fine home education which made her a prolific intellectual and writer Wrote essays, novels, books, articles Main topic: the contrast between inner life and external reality. Founder of the "Bloomsbury group" Influenced by the theories of Bergson, Freud, Proust. She used the stream of consciousness technique. Protagonist: Clarissa Dalloway, a middle- aged woman torn between the desire to celebrate life and a morbid attraction towards death. She lives her condition of mother and wife as a limitation to her freedom, but at the same time she cannot express herself freely and self-imposes rigid rules. Breaks up with the traditional rules of VIctorian novels. Stream of consciousness technique Her male counterpart is Septimus Warren Smith, an ex-soldier traumatised by the experience of the 1st WW and who eventually commits suicide at the end of the day. Focuses on one single character on one single day in one single place. Woolf is not interested in the variety of the plot, but rather in the representation of the workings of the mind. Actions are fragmented. The only element of unity is the coherence of the mind. But thoughts are still presented in an organised way (syntax and grammar rules, punctuation) The S.O.C. technique stresses the importance of subjective time. The narrator (impersonal, 3rd person and omniscient) goes continuously backwards and forwards in time. Rejection of traditional morality and artistic convention. No traditional plot: a series of feelings, memories and experiences held together by symbols. The main character is Mrs. Ramsay Main topics Can be divided into three sections: "The Windows", "Time passes", "The lighthouse" A loving mother and wife and a source of consolation/inspiration for all the people around her Transience The force of love, which creates permanent memories Loss The role of art, which can apparently stop the flux of time Attention to narrative experimentation and psychological insight, rather than to a well- structured plot. Plenty of dichotomies and symbols, like the lighthouse, the sound of the sea, the window, the land and the house.