Modernism and Literary Experimentation: A Study on Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Modernism and Literary Experimentation: A Study on Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! Literary / Modernism • Modernism was a reaction to increasing sense of social and cultural upheaval in early twentieth century • Questioned previously unshakeable faith in rationality and reason established in the nineteenth century (see Freud, Bergson, etc.) • Literary Modernism was characterized by a break with traditional styles • Modernists writers experimented with literary form and expression, adhering to Ezra Pound’s motto "Make it new" Two quotations • In Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown (1924) Virginia Woolf wrote: • “In or about December 1910 human character changed” • In Kangaroo (1923) D.H. Lawrence wrote: • “It was in 1915 the old world ended. In the winter 1915- 1916 the spirit of the old London collapsed; the city, in some way, perished, perished from being a part of the world, and became a vortex of broken passions, lusts, hopes, fears, and horrors” Literary career • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) • Third-person narration, minimal dialogue, prose used to portray the protagonist’s state of mind, free direct speech • Ulysses (1922) • Mythical method, stream of consciousness, actions and thoughts are indistinguishable • Finnegans Wake (1939) • Experimental style Writing the Dubliners ‘My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis’ (Joyce’s letter to publisher Grant Richards, May 5, 1906) Dublin and Joyce’s exile Joyce dramatically exiled himself from his homeland and fought against his religious Catholic background and narrow provincial Irish milieu. Yet his work is an extraordinary recreation of that very Dublin world in which he lived for the first 21 years of his life Dubliners-styles and themes • Naturalism combined with symbolism, double meaning of details • Each story opens in medias res and is mostly told from the perspective of a character • Use of epiphany, “the sudden spiritual manifestation” of an interior reality • The Dubliners are slaves of their family, moral, cultural, religious and political life • Paralysis is conveyed by the absence of events and the slow narrative rhythm EPIPHANY It is the special moment in which a trivial gesture, an external object or a banal situation or an episode lead the character to a sudden self-realization about himself / herself or about the reality surrounding him / her SEE: Virginia Woolf’s ‘moments of being’ Time & space • Dance and dinner party held by Kate and Julia Morkan • Between Christmas and Epiphany • Their nephew Gabriel Conroy arrives with his wife Gretta • Closed space (Usher’s Island) • It’s cold and snow is falling down Gretta • Gabriel’s wife is a ‘country girl’ from Galway • An embodiment Nora Barnacle • Gretta plays a relatively minor role for most of the story, until the conclusion where she is the focus of Gabriel’s thoughts and actions • She seems mournful and distant when a special song is sung at the party • Later she tells Gabriel of her former lover Climax • The song The Lass of Aughrim reminds Gretta of a young man, Michael Furey, who died for her when he was seventeen years old • Gabriel understands he is dead while Michael Furey is alive in Gretta’s heart • Epiphany • The coming to awareness – by the characters – of their own paralysis • Alternative to paralysis = escape which always leads to failure Music, songs and dance Piano performance by Mary Jane Dances Julia’s song Discussions on music Bartell D’Arcy’s singing ‘A distant music’ The Lass of Aughrim All these references to music are part of the intertextual nature of the text Minor characters • Lily, the young housemaid • Mary Jane, Morkan sisters’ niece • Among the guests: • Freddy Malins • The tenor Bartell D’Arcy • Miss Ivors • MICHAEL FUREY Death • Continual references to death in the text • Lily, a flower associated with funerals • Monks who sleep in their coffins • Pictures on the wall (Romeo & Juliet) • ‘Shadows’ and ‘shades’ are recurring visual metaphors for death and for obsessions and memories • ‘Ghosts’ • Gretta’s memories of Michael • Also box-like hotel room resembling a coffin • Interconnection between the living and the dead: living and dead meet Oppostions and reconciliation • Death-in-life • Life-in-death • The binary opposition of life and death is questioned and reshuffled • The two opposing terms are co-existent: every moment of life is also a moment of death • The party / a commemoration of the dead • Passion / sickness and death • The snow paralyses Dublin / Gabriel • Role of windows and mirrors 15 Usher’s Island House Gresham Hotel From Usher's Island to the Gresham Hotel SX Se È e % ARBOUR HILL i I INTE National Museum of n Esenvi lreland* Decorative... Jameson Distillery = ai — m e 2 et ae: SS I AI Quay | 15 Usher's Island » | eo | The Brazen Head n - Trinity College s Sgr i \ a "a "i ® National Gallery ° ma of Ireland ww \ S ® Alb w i TEO a la ‘St Patrick's Ù che = <&& ca Rn a e dl Epilogue • From third-person narration to interior monologue • Final universal vision • The snow covers the whole universe • Time and space are transcended • The dead and the living fuse together • Eternal cycle of life and death • Travelling west, towards one’s own roots (the past- tradition) and / or towards the future (Europe?) • Traumas (personal and national) • Desire and passion • Is the regeneration of the world at hand? Film adaptation • ‘The Dead’ • directed by John Huston • 1987 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkos62UPwVk