Blog Six: Virginia Woolf Short Stories

Blog Six

Virginia Woolf Short Stories

Kemp: Kemp’s introduction to the Woolf short stories shows that she has put a lot of thought, time and research into this project. Though she doesn’t emphasize how these works show the tendencies of Modernism, her emphasis on the pattern of the stories to go “against the traditional grain” of fiction indicates the connection. (61) The stories are, in Woolf’s words, “ ‘completely opposed to the tradition of fiction…’” (61) Kemp writes that these stories allow Woolf more freedom than her novels; the stories are “free from conventional stylistic ties and constraints” and “introduce perceptions that didn’t obviously lead anywhere.” (62) Kemp makes another connection to Modernism when she points out that many of the stories have urban settings and that Woolf, like Eliot, preferred “the horror and reality of the everyday world” as settings. (63) Kemp notes that the stories lack a neatness, (65) and she connects the stories to art. (66) I really enjoyed how she used so many of Woolf’s letters. I felt that this gave really good insight into what Woolf herself was actually thinking and to what she intended. Kemp notes that the stories are, based on Woolf’s letters, connected to her life. In other words, many of the incidents shown in the stories were probably inspired by things that she saw or heard or experienced in her real life. Kemp also discusses that there are non-human narrators in the stories. (73) In all, I really liked the Kemp introduction. The use of letters was excellent, and her enthusiasm about the works generated excitement about them.

“Haunted House:” The narrator here describes the actions of previous tenants (a couple) of a house, now visiting as ghosts. They are remembering their time at the house, looking for their possessions, and observing the new tenants. The last sentence, which begins with the word “waking,” makes me wonder if it wasn’t a dream of the narrator. The ghosts don’t seem scary to me as the reader, and they don’t seem to scare or bother the narrator. They are just there, as presences, maybe as an accepted part of the house.

“Blue and Green:” There is nothing like a point in this story and nothing like a plot. Green seems more pleasant than blue and seems to represent day. Blue seems to be night and seems to have more unpleasant images associated with it. The descriptions are very vivid and create images in your mind immediately. To me, when you read something and it immediately pops into your head as an image, that is a sign of a great writer.

“Monday or Tuesday:” This story had a really promising beginning with the heron image. (This could be just to me personally. There are a couple of herons where I go running, and so I associate them with peace and happiness.) I don’t even know if I would classify this as a story though. It seemed more like a collection of images. I thought that this lack of plot would bother me, but it didn’t. Could it be just her thoughts and experiences from a random day? So random that she doesn’t even remember what day it was? I don’t know; that may be just Kemp’s observation of the stories relating to her life influencing me.

“The Unwritten Novel:” I was excited to read this story because of how Kemp introduced it. Her introduction included a quote from Woolf that came from a letter that she (Woolf) wrote describing writing this story: “ ‘The Unwritten Novel was the great discovery, however…How I trembled with excitement; and then Leonard came in, and I drank my milk, and concealed my excitement….’” (63) This is pure joy! I felt so excited for her, almost as if I was there. This story seemed to have lots of connections to Modernism. It references WWI and occurs on a train. It seems to start with a connection between two people based on shared experiences (the spot on the window that can’t be scrubbed off, the itch in the middle of the back, etc.). I wondered as I was reading if Woolf didn’t have a whole story in her mind but was only writing down parts of it. That is the feeling that it gave; as if there was a complete story, or maybe a novel, but that we had only gotten certain pages of it. Is the narrator just making up all these characters and stories after seeing a woman on the train and having a brief interaction with her? The form here screams Modernism; as Kemp noted, there is not effort to stay with convention.

“The Mark on the Wall:” The narrator sees a small mark on the wall and contemplates what it is and how it got there, its use, etc. I think this story is a vehicle for exploring how the mind works; in a train of thought, one thought just triggers another, then another. In the end, the mark is a snail. Snails, along with flowers and parakeets, seem to be repeated images. There is also another war reference. The war must have weighed heavily on Woolf’s mind.

“Kew Gardens:” I just read a book where Kew Gardens was an important setting, so this was another story that I was excited to read. This story shows how Woolf tried to imitate the art of Modernism, as we discussed last week. The story repeats groups of primary colors many times (red, blue, yellow). I wonder if this story came from a day that Woolf spent at Kew. I can imagine her walking around, imagining conversations, making notes (at least mentally). Is the snail the one observing the conversations? I liked all the nature in this story; I think it was my favorite.

Blog Five: Modern Art

Blog Five

Modern Art

CCM: Macleod’s article intends to be an introduction to visual arts in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He notes that “painting became the leading art form” in Modernism and that painting influenced writing: “Modernist writers often patterned their literary experiments on parallels drawn from the visual arts.” (194) (Initially, I didn’t really understand what he meant by this.) As a result, he asserts that at least a basic knowledge of visual arts is required to really get an understanding of Modernism. I really appreciated that he had some actual pictures, since this week is about art. Like several of the readings, he indicates the importance of Cezanne: “The tradition of abstract art begins most importantly with the post-Impressionist Cezanne.” (195) He moved away from the importance of color and light and toward geometry and geometrical figures. Macleod then moves on to Cubism, which he indicates was invented by Picasso and Braque. (197) He also calls Cubism “the most influential art movement of this century.” (198) It developed in three stages: early (?), Analytical and Synthetic. (198-200) I thought the most important sentence in this section, at least in terms of literature, was “The cubist techniques of fragmentation, multiple perspectives, and juxtaposition are part of the standard modernist repertoire, from Eliot’s The Waste Land to Steven’s “The Man With the Blue Guitar.”” (202) This explained the earlier claim that art influenced literature. Macleod also asserted that Paris was the most important location for art (not a particular surprise) and indicated that the beginning of the movement in England was the 1910 London exhibition, a good segue to the BGR readings! J

BGR: This was the first time I can recall hearing anything about Desmond McCarthy, but I just loved his writing style. His selection is the preface to the oft mentioned 1910 Post-Impressionist Exhibition, which he apparently got from Fry’s notes. What really came out of this piece to me was the idea of history. It seemed similar in some ways to “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” He discusses how the new school is reacting against Impressionism. Both groups are interested in light and color, but the new school is changing the forms. (98) Like many of the other readings, McCarthy connects Cezanne and geometric shapes. (100) The Clive Bell reading also has some really nice passages, just in terms of reading them and thinking about the words. “Roses and works of art are beautiful in themselves.” (102) I like this comparison. This essay too has similarities to “Tradition:” “The stuff of art is always the same, and always it must be converted into form before it can become art: it is in their choice of converting-machines that the ages differ conspicuously.” (105) Like many of the other readings, the Fry reading emphasized the importance of color and light in Impressionism. One element of his essay that I found interesting is that he chose, for his “typical representative of the French genius,” Degas. (263) I guess this surprised me because there are so many more well-known French Impressionists. He seems to find most interesting about Degas that he “never allows himself to adopt a formula of any kind.” (265) He found the best medium for Degas to be pastels. (267) In the second Fry reading, he seems to be defending some of his earlier writings, stating that he has tried to be as objective as possible but basically that everyone can view things a different way based on their own sensibilities.

Goldman: Goldman also emphasizes the importance of the 1910 exhibition. I liked her explanation of how Post-Impressionists differed from the Impressionists. They preferred oppositions of color/planes of color, rather than concentrating mostly on the importance of light and color as major elements. (125) Her main argument, however, seems to be about Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf and their viewpoints on art as opposed to those Roger Fry and Clive Bell. It seemed to me that the main conflict between the two groups was about color and its importance as an artistic element. Is color part of the form? How important is color? I thought the basic difference as indicated by this article was that color was more crucial for Virginia and Vanessa: “For [Vanessa] Bell, colour is in fact form, and therefore, presumably structural.” (135) Virginia goes in the Vanessa category: “Woolf, I suggest, is keeping with the English Post-Impressionists under Sickert’s influence, records social change in terms of new colours.” (142) Clive and Roger, on the other hand, “…shifted the emphasis…away from colour towards more significant form…” (137)

Blog Four

Blog Four
Eliot, “Prufrock” and other Early Poetry

Torrens: I think that the primary argument of the Torrens piece is that there are identifiable connections between Eliot’s essays and his poems. “The critical essays…help us understand them [the poems].” (46-7) He goes through several essays and shows how they are connected to certain poems. The most expansive connection is made between “Hamlet and His Problems” and “Prufrock.” Torrens notes that “Hamlet” argues for looking at the play as a whole rather than concentrating on Hamlet and, as the title of the essay suggests, his problems. Looking at the “larger construction” allows the author’s intent to come through. (47) Torrens advises that there are connections between the two heroes, Hamlet and Prufrock (“solitary pain”), and between Prufrock and Polonius (futility). (48) He concludes that these links may indicate a link between Prufrock and Eliot himself and muses that the poem may have served as a means of “ ‘emotional relief’” for the author. (48) In addition to this main theme, I also appreciated an earlier idea in this piece, wherein the author notes the changes that were occurring around Eliot (i.e.—in the world) and within the author’s life himself. (46) I know that we have talked about many writers in this period wanting to keep themselves out of their writing, but this seems like it would be more difficult in practice.

“La Filia Che Piagne”: What immediately struck me about this poem were the lovely images that it evoked. Honestly, I was surprised to find such nice impressions. I think I came into this week a little worried that all the poems were going to be both boring and depressing based on the essays we read last week. As a result, this poem, which I read first, came as a nice surprise, with its “garden urn,” sunlight in the hair, “autumn weather” and flowers.

“Preludes”: The narrator here seems to be describing different parts of the day (evening, morning, six o’clock). None of them seem particularly pleasant, and there are many disagreeable images (“grimy scraps,” “faint stale smells of beer,” “soiled hands,” etc.). To me, this poem was about city life and its yucky side.

“Portrait of a Lady”: As Torrens notes (47), it would be difficult to approach this poem without thinking of Henry James and his work of the same name. What stood out to me here was another Shakespeare reference (“Juliet’s tomb”). Eliot may be critical of Hamlet as a character, but he clearly has an appreciation for Shakespeare. Also, we have more images of flowers (“a bowl of lilacs in her room”). I have to say that I really loved the second portion (II) of this poem. I could imagine the lady described standing in the room with the bowl of lilacs, twisting one around her finger as she talked. I thought the description and imagery were just perfect and lovely. As in “Preludes,” time seems to be passing. This seems to be an idea that Eliot likes to show.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: Although I had read this poem before, I think it was somewhere in the range of eighth grade. As a result, I obviously remembered little about it, so I considered this to be a fresh, new reading. I identified three major themes or ideas in the poem. First, the speaker seems worried about time passing (life measured with coffee spoons and “I grow old…I grow old…I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled”) and the aging process, as indicated by the repeated worries about thinning hair. Second, the speaker is concerned about how people perceive him and how he appears to others (“bald spot,” “arms and legs are thin,” etc.) Finally, the speaker seems to be fascinated by women, especially their skin and motion/movements. This theme has the most interesting images that indicate a lot of observation and consideration by Eliot, including the repeated “the women come and go” and the stanza that includes “arms that are braceleted and white and bare” and “perfume from a dress,” which the speaker finds to be a distraction.

“Prufrock’s Pervigilium”: My first task was to define “pervigilium,” a word with which I had no familiarity. I found that it was a Roman nocturnal festival in honor of a god. With that being said, I wonder if there is not another definition. If not, I am excited to hear in class how this definition is connected to the poem. The best I can tell, this is a part of “Prufrock” that was cut out, and I think it was a good decision. The images in this piece seem to be more in line with “Preludes,” in that they seem to be all about the dirty, unpleasant city rather than about the three themes that dominate “Prufrock.”

Blog Three

Blog Three

Early Modernist Poetics

CCM 2: This chapter summarized how Modernist writers went about achieving monetary success. I found the process fascinating. Basically, they went against the way books become successful today, which is through mass market paperbacks which they hope to sell in as large a quantity as possible. During this period, writers like Eliot and Joyce only had a few copies of books published. These were sold at an elevated price because they were presented as items for collecting. It is similar to how some baseball cards today are released in very small lots, thereby drastically increasing their re-sale value. This concept seemed ahead of its time and was quite clever. The most detailed example given was Ulysses, which was released at 1000, on three different “levels” of quality and therefore cost. (56) My immediate thought upon fully grasping the structure was to wonder how this type of scheme was affected by the Depression, so I was pleased to find that the author answered this question. The answer was that this structure collapsed, thereby turning the writers to academic settings. (62) I also liked how the author had really given thought as to WHY this worked: “Which is why the deluxe or limited edition acquired such prominence: it transformed literary property into a unique and fungible object, something that nearly resembled a painting…” (61) It seems that this whole set-up was something of an admission that the work being done in this period was not particularly appealing to those who were not part of the intelligentsia.

The article also explored the connection between literary journals and Modernism, concentrating on Little Review, Dial and Vanity Fair. The author asserts that each (in the order listed) represented a moment in the growth of Modernism. (51)

Hulme explains how romanticism and classicism are different and why classicism is better. He believed that a revival of classicism was occurring just prior to World War I. I thought he explained the difference with two key elements. The first is religion, which classicism has but romanticism does not. I particularly like the explanation on page 95: “You don’t believe in God, so you begin to believe that man is a god. You don’t believe in Heaven, so you begin to believe in Heaven on earth. In other words, you get romanticism.” The other difference is the presence or lack of “reservation,” which classicism has but romanticism doesn’t. (96) I thought the key sentence to explain classicism was this: “The great aim I accurate, precise and definite description.” (101)

The Pound article gives advice to new poets. He starts out with three basic principles (page 58), then expands to include several different aspects of writing. I think he is trying to give sincere advice. I particularly liked that he concluded that one should ignore “men who have never themselves written a notable work.” (60) Like Hulme, he advises precision. (63)

“Tradition”: On first reading, I absolutely loved the idea of this article, which advised the importance of a sense of history. Basically, Eliot is saying that you have to know and understand what came before you to be a good writer. As a historian, I appreciated this premise. The more I considered this idea, however, I became less comfortable with it. This seems problematic in terms of a writer’s creativity, though I’m having trouble putting my finger on the precise problem. I also struggled with the following: “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion…” (43)

“Hamlet”: Eliot is tremendously critical of Hamlet, which he calls the “Mona Lisa of literature.” (47) He believes that the play is to some degree a failure because Hamlet “is dominated by an emotion which is inexpressible…” (48)

Blog Two: Transition to Modernism

Blog Two
Transition to Modernism: Forster, Howard’s End

I’m so pleased that this was our first book because I enjoyed it so much. I hope that the other works can live up to the high expectations that it set! My first impressions, formed in the first fifty page chunk of the book, were that Forster writes women remarkably well, particularly the sister relationship, and that I hope that Mrs. Wilcox will become a major character. (Langland and Martin/Piggford offer some possible explanation to his understanding of women, as both indicate that he was brought up primarily by his mother and a number of aunts. See Langland 438 and MP 11.) While she did, in a way, become a major influence in the book, I was quite disappointed to find that the majority of the book was to be without her, at least physically. I was drawn in by her connection to the land and her connection to Howard’s End. The way Forster presented her, especially the scene where she carried around the piece of hay and smelled it, just drew me in. She seemed almost unreal, especially considering the other people in her family, none of which were particularly likeable. I liked both Meg and Helen. I liked Meg right from the start; she reminded me of another Meg from one of my favorite childhood books, A Wrinkle in Time, as both are older, bookish and protective of their younger siblings. It took more time for me to really like Helen, though I did as the book progressed. Initially, she seemed considerably less bright than Meg. I felt that she evolved as the plot evolved.

It was easy to see why this book was selected for the transitional week. To me, the most important events/changes involved in modernism were (in order) 1) the industrial revolution/mass production/commercialism and 2) World War I. These are all present in the book. Obviously WWI has not begun, being that the book was published in 1910. Nevertheless, Forster is clearly aware of tensions that exist in international politics, most keenly between Britain and Germany. This is mentioned several times, particularly in the first half of the book. In a way, this tension can be seen between the Schlegels (somewhat German) and the Wilcoxes (all British). Forster discusses the problems between these two powers even more directly though. (See page 47: “… just as the remark ‘England and Germany are bound to fight,’ renders war a little more likely each time that it is made, and is therefore made the more readily by the gutter press of either nation.”)

The mixed ideas of the industrial revolution, mass production and commercialism are an even bigger theme in the book. To me, Forster seems resistant to these. (I think Jameson would agree with me, calling Forster “at best a closet modernist.” See 454.) He seems to see the state of London as an indicator of what we call Modernism, and he is none too pleased with the way it is changing. (Thacker points out that London was undergoing extensive construction just prior to 1914. See 47.) A big example is what is going to happen to Wickham Place. It is to be torn down to make space to build apartments, thereby making smaller, impersonal areas for working people to live while making more money for the landowner. He is critical of this entire situation and sees it as doing no one any good. (See page 109.) His description of Leonard Bast describes how city life and the way the world has changed has had an effect on people: “…a young man, colourless, toneless, who already the mournful eyes above a drooping moustache that are so common in London, and that haunt the streets of the city like accustoming presences. One guessed him as the third generation, grandson to the shepherd or ploughboy whom civilization had sucked into the town; as one of the thousands who have lost the life of the body and failed to reach the life of the spirit.” (84) Leonard seems to symbolize what happens to these people with little means in the cities as “progress” forces them there to find jobs in some unpleasant industry or another. My favorite quote, which seems to summarize how Forster feels about London and what it has become, comes from Chapter XVII: “London only stimulates, it cannot sustain…” (109) This is in contrast, it would seem, to the more bucolic lifestyle of Howard’s End, which is itself in danger at the end of the book, as indicated by the “red rust” glow on the horizon at the end of the book. (240) (Thacker seems to think that Forster seeks to “connect” cities and the countryside. See 49. I’m not sure I agree with this. I don’t think Forster has any good feelings toward cities. At least, I saw little evidence of that in the book. Still, Thacker does characterize Forster’s urban tone as “crabby,” so we are at least somewhat on the same page. See 50. I like that way of describing the tone.) Still, Forster has some hope that society will shake off this “progress” that seems to have overtaken it, as indicated by Meg’s speech about the “craze for motion.” (240)

In Thacker’s article, two things in particular got my attention. First, he noted that the constant movement of the characters among different houses emphasizes “how modernity disrupts a stable sense of place.” (55) This is a fantastic observation that I had not considered but with which I agree wholeheartedly. Second, I enjoyed his discussion of the role of cars in the book, which I also had not considered. Thacker connects the car to financial privilege and sees it as a symbol of “ ‘new civilization’ .” (65) I think he is correct on both assertions.

Forster also seems to be struggling with the role of women. I was unsure what his feelings toward feminism were, but I think that he must have believed that women are the equal of men. (Langland sees the opposition between the male and female characters as sort of the backbone of the book. See 441. It is certainly a theme, but I disagree that it is the central theme.) Otherwise, why write Meg as he did? He recognizes that there is still something Victorian about the way men treat women, and Meg recognizes it too. She allows it to go on when it suits her purposes, but when she really needs to speak up about something, she does it. (Langland also recognizes that Meg stands out, noting that she can turn her fake feminine actions into a “lever” when it suits her purposes. See 443.) Similarly, Forster is concerned about class divides. This seems to be presented in the situations with the Basts. He doesn’t seem to know what to do about the problems, but he is concerned about them. There is also something in the background about Britain as an empire and what is going on in the colonies. The Wilcoxes are the main people involved in these concerns, as they have made at least some of their money in rubber. Paul Wilcox spends most of the book in Nigeria, presumably working for the family business. (See page 82.)

In all, I really enjoyed the book. I find that I always enjoy books more that have a happy ending, and this one did, at least to me. I was not at all bothered by what happened to Leonard and Charles; in fact, I think both got what they deserved. I was especially pleased that the sisters were reunited, and that Meg ended up living at Howard’s End as Mrs. Wilcox meant for it to be.

Blog One: What is Modernism?

Blog One
What is modernism?
I find that questions like this are best answered via the elementary school approach: who, what, when, where, why and how. All of the articles we were assigned addressed at least one of these elements, and some of the articles addressed all of the elements.

Who, Where
Many different specific names are listed in the articles, but two categories seem to emerge from the articles: Bloomsbury and others. The Bloomsbury group is composed, as we have already discussed in class, of a group of writers, artists and like-minded individuals who lived, worked and socialized together in the early 20th century in a certain academic portion of London. The figures most often mentioned by name in the assigned articles seem to be Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, TS Eliot and EM Forster. One of my favorite things about the Bloomsbury group is that it truly was “a group.” According to Reed, “…Bloomsbury stuck together, its members collaborating on books and artwork, corresponding, traveling and cohabiting…” (Reed 2) (Levenson suggests that this “group” mentality was to be found throughout the movement.) (Levenson 6)There were certainly other key and leading figures involved in the movement. Reed mentions Le Corbusier and Duchamp. Still another way to analyze the “who” of modernism is to consider nationality. It is not stated outright, but I believe that most of the Bloomsbury group was British. The articles cite other outside of Britain, however. Scott includes “colonials,” presumably meaning people from the British Empire though not from Britain proper. (Scott 1990 5) There are also Americans and Latin Americans that are part of the movement. (Scott 1990 5) One of Scott’s important themes is that women should and must be included when considering the period: “…the presence of women in modernism has been vastly underestimated.” (Scott 1990 7)

What
The “what” element of modernism seems to be the most difficult portion to address, as it seems to me that this portion should speak to the ideology(ies) of the movement. After reading the assigned articles, there seem to be two distinct ways of going about modernism. The Bloomsbury “way,” as explained by Reed, is not the same as “mainstream” modernism, suggesting a conflict within the concept itself. (Levenson also recognizes the divide. See page 7.) Similarly, Scott suggests “subcategories” of modernism. (Scott 1990 4)
The “mainstream” version “celebrates mass-production and standardization.” (Reed 1) The Bloomsbury version of modernism was quite different. Reed’s article distinguishes between the two by connecting Bloomsbury to domesticity while connecting the mainstream version to a “heroic” ideal. (This seems to be the more masculine interpretation, while Bloomsbury seems to be the more feminine interpretation.) My favorite quote from any of the articles, which I think does a great job of summing up what Bloomsbury was about, comes from a letter from Strachey to Grant, as quoted by Reed: “Good God! To have a room of one’s own with a real fire and books and tea and company, and no dinner bells and distractions, and a little time for doing something! It’s a wonderful vision, and surely worth the risks.” (Reed 6) Doesn’t that seem lovely and appealing? Reed goes on to discuss the key ideas of Bloomsbury: leisure, comfort, the privacy that protects diversity, and the pleasures of intellectual conversation and artistic creativity. (Reed 7) Despite the fact that Bloomsbury differed from mainstream modernism, it still contributed to what became the central ideas of the movement. At the same time, Bloomsbury never planned to become the majority.

When
There is a little conflict among the articles regarding “when” modernism occurred. Levenson starts the period earlier than the others, giving 1890-1930. (Levenson 4) Scott originally puts the period “roughly from 1910 to 1940.” (Scott 1990 5) She revises this to go back as far as 1880 in the later edition of the book. (Scott 2007 12) Reed puts the years 1910-1978 on Bloomsbury. (Reed 6) Thacker gives 1910-1939 as the central focus for his book. (Thacker 2)

Why
For Bloomsbury, the answer to “why” seems to be because a) they wanted to be individuals and b) they saw a better way to do things than the way the majority of the world was going about their lives. This reasoning is part of what makes the group so appealing.

How
As Scott writes, “…modernism found its expression in many arts…” (Scott 1990 13) This obviously includes writing and painting, but I am unsure of what other forms it took.