Virginia Woolf: Early Short Stories

Greta Tasedan
9/28
Engl 814
Blog 6

Virginia Woolf: Early Short Stories

COLOR:
In "The Mark on the Wall" Woolf pays a great deal of attention to color. Several times I was reminded of our class discussion last week where we discussed Modernist arts period of affinity for bright primary colors. She often mentions very distinct colors by name, in both "The Mark on the Wall" and "Kew Gardens." "Kew Gardens" begins with an explosion of color and the return of the "stalks" which Virginia mentions in "The Mark on the Wall." Virginia almost seems to paint a picture in words in the final paragraph of "Kew Gardens" as she describes the "Yellow and black, pink and snow white, shapes of all these colours, men, women and children, were spotted for a second upon the horizon" (95). This description is as much of a modernist painting as any we discussed in class last week! Again Woolf paints a picture of her scene as she describes the layer of green-blue vapor, in which at first their bodies had substance and a dash of color, but later both substance and colour dissolved in the green-blue atmosphere" (95). Finally in reference to modern art and our discussion of color last week, I noticed Woolf's aptly named short story "Blue & Green" among the readings. This describes perfectly what Dr. Sparks referred to as Virginia Woolf's blue and green period. Never have I read a passage where a color was personified and depicted in such vivid detail. In these short passages the colors were suddenly more real to me than the blue wallpaper in my office or the green plant in the corner of my room.

HISTORY, FUTURE, and DEATH:
Woolf has a very distinct since of history and future in her writing as evident in "The Mark on the Wall." As she muses over what portrait might have been hung on the possible nail hole in the wall Woolf mentions a "Miniature of a lady with white powdered curls, powder-dusted cheeks, and lips like red carnations" (83). This description is strongly reminiscent of the old powder wigs of the 1700's. In addition to giving this scene an unrealistic sense of history (as it is highly unlikely that a portrait that old would have been hung on a nail in Virginia's house) the description of the miniature also brings to mind the Momento Mori, or the popular pictures of dead family members taken with daguerreotype photography. I imagine the face of the "Miniature lady" white as death, cold from the crypt, lips caked with red lip-stick in an attempt to make her look more natural for her close up. Again the ghost imagery emerges in "Kew Gardens" as Eleanor describes for Simon her view of the past as "those men and women, those ghosts lying under the treesone’s happiness, one's reality" (91)? Again this theme of death is discussed in Woolf's "A Haunted House" in a much more direct way as she describes the "ghostly couple" (122) gliding hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure" (122). It seems that even these ghosts have a sense of history as they wander around the house and remember the "kisses without number" and the "Silver between the trees" (123). Although Virginia's ghosts live on in one sense or another, they seem incapable of doing anything but drifting through foggy memories.

Shortly after Woolf mentions the mythical, miniature portrait in "The Mark on the Wall," she begins to discuss life in terms of "being blown through the Tube at fifty miles an hour - landing at the other end without a single hairpin in one's hair (84)! It seems strange that Woolf would juxtapose the sense of history she presents early in the story with this breezy description of a lifetime in a whirlwind moment. Even more confusing is her return to history once again on the same page as she describes Troy and its remaining dusty, fragmented pots.

MODERNISM:
In "The Mark on the Wall" Woolf gives a very clear definition of Modernism in her predictions that "novelists in the future will realize more and more the importance of these reflections, for of course there is not one reflection but an almost infinite number; those are the depths they will explore...leaving the description of reality more and more out of their stories" (85-86). This description of the future of literature goes nicely with her descriptions of the past. Over all, Modernism was a shift towards the "new" in every way. After reading selections of Woolf's writing I really begin to see how modern art and modernist writing go hand in hand. Woolf's modernist writings are themselves a work of art, in it's intricate attention to detail and it's vivid shades of color, which paint a picture with the minds eye to accompany her words. This is surely what Modernism is in every sense of the word.

THE SNAIL:
I am unsure what to make of the reappearing snail in both "The Mark on the Wall" and "Kew Gardens." What on earth does this snail mean?

Impressionism and Post Impressionism: The Collaboration of Bloomsbury

Greta Tasedan
9/21
Engl 814
Blog 5


Impressionism and Post Impressionism: The Collaboration of Bloomsbury


Roger Fry's essay "Impressionism" reminded me over and over again that Fry was not a writer, but an artist. His punctuation and word choice is that of a very intelligent man who found his calling, not in authorship, but in artistic expression and critique. His essay is very personal, citing not only widely known and iconic artists like Monet, Pissarro, Manet, and Sisley, but including his own personal favorite "typical representative of the French genius" (263), Degas. Fry's confidence in his opinion is also quite apparent in this essay where he notes that while Degas objected to being classified as an Impressionist, he (Fry) nonetheless will place him directly in this category. Though well informed and thought out, Fry's essay would have benefited greatly from the inclusion of several of Degas's actual paintings. The addition of these visual stimuli would have highlighted Fry's descriptions and conclusions, and given the reader a more broad understanding of Fry's claims.

In Desmond MacCarthy's essay "The Post-Impressionists," he clearly and concisely states the overall tenets of Impressionism as being "interested in analyzing the play of light and shadow into a multiplicity of distinct colours; they refined upon what was already illusive in nature." (98) This line seems to encompass all the themes Roger Fry discussed in "Impressionism." In the introduction paragraph the author notes that MacCarthy was very close to Robert Fry, leading me to believe that this concise statement was no accident. I would be very comfortable venturing a guess that these two essays were written to be read consecutively. In many ways MacCarthy expounds on Fry's points and Impressionism, offering a great deal of information for the sole purpose of expanding Fry's arguments and teachings. MacCarthy is also very clear about the overall goal of the Post-Impressionists who "were not concerned with recording impressions of colour or light. They were interested in the discoveries of the Impressionists only so far as these discoveries helped them to express emotions which the objects themselves evoked" (98). I truly enjoyed reading MacCarthy's essay. His clear, concise, and well informed writing style gripped my attention from beginning to end.

At first glace author Clive Bell seems to dismiss all of Roger Fry and Desmond MacCarthy's musings. In his essay "The Artistic Problem," he metaphorically describes his opinion using the imagery of a rose, which he says "is not beautiful because it is like something else. Neither is a work of art. Roses and works of art are beautiful in themselves" (102). This I took to mean that I should not find the significance of works of art by classifying the art as "Impressionist," "Post-Impressionist," or anything of the sort. Bell makes it clear that "A work of art is an object beautiful, or significant, in itself, nowise dependent for its value on the outside world, capable by itself of provoking in us that emotion which we call aesthetic" (103). Although this theme seems clear, Bell goes on to discuss in detail the creative thought process of an artist. This seemed a bit contradictory to me. I found it most interesting that Bell is the first author in this series of readings who pointedly addresses poetry, novels, and other artistic works aside from painting and drawing. Whether contradictory or not, Bell's essay is interesting from beginning to end, and his writing style thoroughly engaging.

Reading these essays consecutively was very enlightening in many ways, the most striking of which is the amount of collaboration between these three amazing authors and artists. They obviously shared thoughts, ideas, and opinions freely among themselves. Somehow this collaboration has created an assembly of interconnected theory and opinion, which stands alone, yet enhances each and every idea when read in conjunction. In Roger Fry's essay "Retrospect," found in his collection Vision and Design, he mentions his comrade and collogue Clive Bell. This essay sprucely pulls together the common aesthetic found in each of these essays. Collaboration of the great minds like this has undoubtedly proved invaluable to this reader, and to countless others, making Bloomsbury a touchstone for any who wish to not only learn about Bloomsbury issues, but those who wish to learn how collaboration leads to higher understanding of any subject.

Reading Revelations

Greta Tasedan
9/11
Engl 814
Blog 4

Reading Revelations

James Torrens Essay "Eliot's Essays: A Bridge to the Poems" was a very interesting read. Torrens directs the reader's attention to Eliot's essay "The Function of Criticism," where we find several important themes of Eliot's work including, "the artists struggle against the ego, the path of heroism leading to 'surrender or sacrifice, ‘the superior value of offering oneself ' to a common action'" (Torrens 46). Torrens also discusses a topic of particular interest to me and the other members of our Modernist London seminar in his passage detailing the similarities between Eliot's essay "Hamlet and his Problems" (required reading for last week) and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (required reading for this week). While Torren's conclusions are interesting, they remain undeveloped, especially in this particularly interesting section of the essay. In conclusion, Torrens muses "by analogy with the link Eliot sees between Shakespeare and 'Hamlet,' one may be let to assume some linkage between 'Prufrock' and Eliot himself. Perhaps 'Prufrock,' like 'Hamlet,' can be interpreted as a 'form of emotional relief' for the author." (48) While this is an interesting statement, Torrens leaves the reader without a concrete conclusion. Perhaps Torrens meant for his essay to be merely thought provoking, and on this front he has succeeded, but as a reader I was disappointed with the lack of conclusion drawn in the essay in general.

Torrens does mention that "Prufrock, the hyper-self-conscious modern, would love to be heroic," (48) a continuation of his interesting statement of Eliot's themes from the first paragraph. This fascinating statement opened my eyes to new ways of reading "Prufrock" and "Prufrock's Pervigilium." Suddenly, I am able to ready the timid "scuttling" crab as a would-be luminary as he asks, "Do I dare/Disturb the universe" (45-6)? What a profound question to ask! What a profound question to ask unless you (or Eliot) really thought he could actually disturb something as elephantine as the universe! This thought quickly gives way to a second thought....how does Eliot define the word "Universe?" Could this be an example of "the artists struggle against the ego" (Torrens 46)? Although as a student I am visiting these issues for the first time and feel it would be inappropriate to draw any conclusions without further research, I can truthfully say that Torrens brief article really opened my eyes to a new way of reading "Prufrock."

Although not entirely along the lines of the ego, Torrens essay also gave me a sort of permission to explore Eliot's work in relation to his other work. While reading Eliot's "Prelude IV" I discovered a line I thought interesting in relation to "Prufrock." Eliot writes of women in much the same way in both poems, describing in "Prelude IV" how "The worlds revolve like ancient women" (53). This revolution of women is strikingly similar to the "Prufrock" lines, "In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo" (13-4). Again, I am approaching a topic which requires further research to come to any concrete conclusion, but the marked similarity between the revolution of the women in both poems would be a very interesting point to explore in more depth.

Carving Out a Niche: T.S. Eliot

Greta Tasedan
9/8
Engl 814
Blog 3

Carving Out a Niche: T.S. Eliot


It is just as important for a poet to create poetry as it is for this same poet to carve out a niche in the world of poetry set in place by those preceding him or her.

In Timothy Materer's essay "Eliot's Critical Program," Materer notes that "as an experimental writer who had at first found it difficult even to publish his verse much less earn critical or popular favor, Eliot was aware that 'traditional' ways of interpreting poetry only hindered his generation of writers" (4). In short, Eliot became a poetry pruner, cutting off and discarding the aging limbs of literature to make room for the new buds of modernist poetry. He realizes that without the branches of the poetry tree that came before him and blazed the way, the new buds would never have had the ability to grow. But for the new branches to grow, the old must succumb to the young. This essay was clearly and concisely written, and stimulating to read. Materer seems to have a great deal of perceptive insight into Eliot's mind. This insight and his obvious research into Eliot's varying work provided a sturdy and well thought out basis for Materer's opinion and this essay, yet Materer struck me as having made a fatal mistake when writing "Eliot's Critical Program." While this essay is stimulating and informative, it offers very little of Materer's personal opinion. Materer has not created sulphurous acid. His ideas have not molded with Eliot's to create a new and different substance. Materer focuses most of his considerable energy on conveying solid information on Eliot and very little on original opinion of his own. I would like to note at this point that this DOES NOT MEAN that Materer conveys no original thought in his essay. I am simply saying that, while inspiring, Materer does less inspiring and instead allows Eliot's own words, through the essay, continue to inspire the reader. By Eliot's definition within "Tradition and the Individual Talent," this essay would not be defined as "art."

Eliot's realization that poets must take inspiration from the predecessors and 'make it new' is what caused him to write his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Criticism is the most effective way Eliot feels he can create a literary cannon, which would readily includes his own work, and he is correct. To judge poets by only the criterion constructed by the 'greats' like Milton and Shakespeare would be to exclude all those more contemporary poets work which would make an artist like Shakespeare roll his eyes and sigh loudly with exasperation.

It seems that this is why Eliot feels so comfortable criticizing Shakespeare's work in "Hamlet and His Problems." While some less accomplished writers may shy away from criticizing (arguably) the greatest writer of all time, Eliot dives right in. His points are interesting! Essentially, he argues that Shakespeare's character Hamlet had less impact because Shakespeare himself did not personally grasp the depth of the feelings that Hamlet the character had. Eliot does not go so far as to call Shakespeare's writing inadequate, but he obviously believes there is something lacking in the description of Hamlet's mind. For a play, no action or speech could encompass the depth of Hamlet's turbulent emotions. By leveling this critique at Shakespeare, who some consider to be the father of literature, Eliot is not only passing on a new and original idea. He is also carving out a place for himself at the already crowded literary table. By offering up a less-than-perfect element of Shakespeare's work, Eliot reminds the reader that it all has not been done! There is still more to discover! Shakespeare didn't write every story every written, and he (Eliot) has something new to say!

Ezra Pound does the same thing in his essay "A Retrospect." Pound finds himself searching for a place where his poetry fits in (and even takes center stage, knowing Pound). Finding all the seats at the table taken by the 'greats,' Pound, H.D., and Aldington build a new table by publishing their three principles. Take for example, principle #2, "to use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation" (58). This is only a semi-original idea, but still creates sulphurous acid. It is enough of a deviation from previous poetic mandates that it constitutes an original idea, melded with the old, to 'make it new.' Pound was known for his ability to 'make it new,' and was greatly responsible for erecting the modernist table at which Eliot seated himself.