АНГЛИСКА КНИЖЕВНОСТ 6 РОМАН

ТЕОРИЈА
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Unit 1 Modernism

Exam question: Circumstances that brought about the rise of modernism and
modern fiction

The focus is on extremely complex philosophical, ethical, psychological and logical

issues and not on marital and social status as it was in the Victorian Era

High Modernism (1912-1930) 5 authors we are going to deal with belong to high
modernism: Conrad, Foster, Lawrence, Woolf and Joyce.

Post Modernism (after 1950) 1 author we are reading belongs to post modernism
Golding

One of the greatest characteristic is that realism is still present but it is combined with
symbolism REALISM + SYMBOLISM

Historical circumstances

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Modernism started in the last two decades of the 19 century and thus it is
connected with the end of the Victorian era. During the Victorian Era system of
values was formed on the basis of the Queen. This system of values contained
conventions, dogmas. For instance the themes of sex and death were taboo but at
the end of the Victorian era authors started writing about them (Wuthering heights).
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Some critics believe that modernism started in 1887 (50 Jubilee of Queen
Victoria) or in 1897 (the Golden Jubilee of the Queen)

Alienation

Specific tendencies appeared at the beginning of the modern age. One of them was
the fight between the philistine reader and the author. The person who first tackled
this issue was Mathew Arnold in `Culture and Anarchy`. This issue brought about
the rise of theme which was typical for modernist poetry but it also started to be
dominant in prose and that is ALIENATION. Alienation can be also understood
through the separation of the work of art and the author. (OBJECTIVITY becomes
very important in fiction too). Authors who are important for the theme of alienation
are: Thomas Mann `Buddenbrook` (1901) and James Joyce `A portrait of the
artist as a young man` (1916). The French symbolists also discussed the
detachment between society and the artist.

Education Acts- Readership

The passing of the Education Acts (1870) was a very important event because with
it compulsory education was introduced. Everybody was allowed to learn (previously
women were not allowed) There were people who were literal but not educated well
and were interested in the yellow pages. Thus there was a division of the reading
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audiences. During the 18 c the tastes of the audiences were important and authors
wrote to satisfy these tastes.

Division of reading audiences:

High (specific for the expert audiences)
Mid (Robinson Crusoe targeted the mid reading audiences)

Low (literature written for semi-literate)

Predominant themes
Pessimism

Thomas Hardy (although Victorian he showed characteristics of pessimism in his

writings) Houseman

Stoicism

W.E. Henley, Robert Louis Stevenson, R. Kipling`s Jungle Books

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N.B. These themes were characteristics of both late Victorian period and early
modern era.
The criticism of the Victorian system of values

It begun early with Lytton Strachey and his work `Eminent Victorians` (1918). In
addition to him Samuel Butler ``The way of all flesh`` (started writing in 1884, ended in
1903) contains the greatest attack of the Victorians and their system of values.
The position of women

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18 century position of women: marital status equals social status, underprivileged
class because there were special rules to be followed, special behavior, domesticity,
not allowed in universities, educated in special institutions, refined, governesses.

During the time of modernism there was an improvement in the position of women by
the Married women property`s act (1882) by which women were allowed to inherit
their property. However they were still not allowed to vote (later 1918 but
implemented 1928).

The female author we are going to read, Virginia Woolf, is considered to be a

feminist. She devised the concept `androgynous mind` by which she claims that
writer is a writer no matter man or woman.

During the modernism still same values of the Victorian era, regarding women, are
cherished however there is also challenging of these values and breaking of the
Victorian taboos (eg. Mrs Dalloway: passionate kiss).

Colonialism

The late Victorian period was the peak of British imperialism and colonialism but later it
started declining. Intellectuals started to speak against colonialism. The Boer wars
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(1899-1902). In the 3 half of the 20 c started the downfall of British imperialism and
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the 1 step to it was the formation of the British Commonwealth (1926). With this there
were states that considered themselves to be independent but allied to Britain. Later
many states proclaimed independence and were no longer members of the
Commonwealth. Independence of India (1947 m of c), Irish Republic (1949), South

Africa (1961).
The Irish fight for independence

There are many writings dealing with the Irish struggle for independence. Eg. `A
portrait of the artist as a young man`, T.S. Eliot`s `Easter 1916`. They were
members of the `Irish literary revival` and they had special idea about the Irish fight
for independence. They believed that independence will be achieved through cultural
means of fighting i.e. art and they were strongly against violence.

1900 and on

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During the 1 decade of the 20 century Edward VII held the throne. The Edwardian
time was the last period when the Victorian values were thought to be alive but it was
just an allusion. It was the last period that shared something with the Victorian period
in terms of flashliness.
1910-1914 George V held the throne and balance was achieved between the
Victorian values and the Edwardian Hedonism

Wars poets during the WW1.

Later, experimentalism of T.S. Eliot (1920s)

1930 emergence of crisis. W.H. Auden – Oxford circle

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) which was a precursor to WW2

After WW2 the National art Councils were changed to Regional Art Councils.
London was no longer in the center 1960s. Dialogues in regional dialects started to
be broadcasted and the dialect became important. Hardy wrote in his dialect.

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Modern fiction
Three tendencies are VIP for modern fiction:
Individuality

Breakdown of the Victorian system of values which were public conventions and norms
and people were supposed to follow them. But with the division between the reader and
the author we have something completely opposite of the Victorian values. Fiction
begins focusing on the inner life of the characters. This inner world is portrayed on the
basis of writer`s intuition. The problem was that instead of the Victorian system of values
the writers should provide their own individual system of values focusing on the inner life
of the characters. Different authors dealt differently with the inner life of the characters.

Virginia Woolf used poetry to convey her visions (Poetry in fiction) James Joyce used
his talent in technical craftsmenship and used

multiple points of view in order to be completely detached from the writings (similar
to Eliot`s objective correlative)

The side effect of individuality was isolation, confinement (Marlow) which are in fact
connected to alienation.

Treatment of time

In the Victorian fiction we had chronological order of the events but in modern fiction
we have a different treatment of time. Virginia Woolf had a specific notion of time.
She distinguished between objective (time by clock) and subjective time (as we
experience it, for e.g. in 3 seconds the whole life goes or when we are happy 15
days pass as a second which is the subjective time whereas in the objective time
they are 15 days). This treatment of time was influenced by Marcel Proust and his
book `Remembrance of things past`. He claims that we are all memories. Constant
flashbacks are used for the past and the future. For example the whole novel Mrs.
Dalloway takes place in 1 day but is full of flashbacks. The past and the present are
connected.

Stream of consciousness

This view was influenced by Freud`s discovery of the subconsciousness. A new

technique was introduced called a stream of consciousness novel. It is related to the
interior monologues of the characters and the author follows the thoughts of the
characters. The author points in the mind of the characters. (stream of
consciousness novel).

The problem to this type of novel and the only criticism was that it was too one man
centered. Always one character is in the center of the attention. Problem: isolation,
alienation of the character based on his relationship with people VIP
THEME(Ulysses, Joyce). Virginia Woolf deals with the private self.

Documentary writers

They appeared before the high modernism. They were referred as to materialists
because they portrayed perfect characters. They were not concerned with the inner
life of the characters and that`s why are called documentary writers. The characters
were not very realistic and the main theme was virtually transient notions and trivial
things. The main representatives are ____________________________________.

Short fictions

Conrad, Joyce, Susan Hill, Katherine Anne Porter (influenced by Chekhov) wrote short

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fictions. They used trivial things to convey deep meanings. What is superficial on the
surface is deep inside.
Freud-Psychoanalyses

Anthropology is very important because with it is connected the human life in

community. (Reference to Icarus myth in Portrait of the artist as a young man).

One of the branches of psychology is psychoanalyses and its founder is Freud. He

wrote several books such as: Totem and Taboos, Psychoanalyses of infants etc. He
dealt with infant sexuality and he claims that it emerges immediately after their birth.

He wanted to discover what are the causes for certain problems such as
forgetfulness and he came to the conclusion that in everyman there is
subconsciousness which is the cause for problems such as forgetfulness.

He discovered split subjectivity or personality of the people. The discovery of

subconsciousness is connected with the theme search for identity. Modern
characters feel as if they lost their identity. (Kurtz).

Freud makes division between:

ID (hidden urges, animalistic features)

Ego (area of consciousness, reality- Marlow)

Super ego (norms of the society that make us differ between what is good and what
bad- moralistic role)

Psychology
Alfred Adler- All humans have the necessity to assert those who haven`t
____________. These are probably split personalities.

Jung- He divided the mental illnesses of his patients into animus (female) and anima
(male) based on their dreams. He claimed that there were certain archetypes shared
by all people. He found that all legends are based on one and the same legend. He
introduced the term collective consciousness and claimed that all people share it.

Unit 2 Henry James `The art of fiction` (16.02.2011)

Exam question: Give a brief account of the essay on 1 page (James`s positive
and negative criticism of Besant`s pamphlet)

The essay is written on a pretext of a pamphlet published by Walter Besant in 1884.

Walter Besant delivered a lecture named the art of fiction which was later in the
same year 1884 published in a pamphlet.

The whole essay of Henry James is criticism and approvement of Besant`s pamphlet
(with certain points James agrees and with others strongly disagrees)

The main criticism is headed towards the strict rules of fiction given by Besant

Most influential essay in which what modern fiction is explained (he is against the
term modern but everything he argues belongs to the modern fiction)
The most obvious point James approves of is the theme of Besant`s pamphlet and that
is the theory of fiction (Besant introduced the subject of theory for the first time because
previously it was not debatable) The pamphlet of Besant was written on the basis of
novels written by Dickens, Austen … He explains why theory was that important. He
considered Dickens and Austen as a little bit naïve or unconsciously artless because
they were simple and not that sophisticated and that is why they did not have theoretic
grounds.

James discusses the exchange of views as VIP for fiction and he says that when
there is no exchange of views the fiction is boring

So James approves of the ides of Besant concerning the exchange of views by

which not only the work of art is important but also the theory.

James referred to one of the prejudices of the church that fiction is considered

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to be wicked. When he wrote the essay this prejudice disappeared but it existed in
different form and that was ``fiction should not claim reality``

Besant said that the novelist should claim that the work is not based on reality which
James disapproved and he said ``the only reason for existence of the novel is that it
does attempt to present life``. If the novel does not represent life it is not good. It has to
have a sense of reality.

James claimed that `reality is important for modern fiction``.

James comments on Besant`s analogy between painting and fiction. He says that just
as the picture is reality the novel is history. James explains further by giving an analogy
between a novelist and a historian. Historians talk about the past of people in the same
way as novelists but the difference is that the novelist`s writings are to be regarded not
only literally.

About the sense of reality: The novelists need to speak with the tone of historian,
novelist and philosopher.

If fiction corresponds to painting it corresponds to art. Besant says ``fiction is one of the
fine arts`` James approves of this argument but he does not approve of Besant`s
explanation of fine arts. The main point of James is that ``fiction should be based on
____________, no recipes, mathematical formulas``.

Other people do not accept the notion of fiction as fine art. For example protestants
consider art not to be connected to morality. Fiction should be didactic and amusing. If
fiction is artistic it should not be amusing. The artistic element in fiction obstructs the rule
of having happy endings. Fiction should have virtuous and aspiring characters.

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3 group of people think that fiction should have movement and dialogue not
description.
If fiction contains artistic element it ruins the pleasure.

James makes a comparison between a novelist and a meddlesome doctor.

The artistic elements are not widely accepted by people.

James disagreed that the art of fiction should be defined strictly and he believed in the
freedom of execution of the writer.

James said that anyone can differentiate between a bad and good novel. Good novels
cause affections, bad novels are disregarded by the readers.

James says that the only object that the novelist should adhere to is that the novel
should be interesting. But he does not say why?

Definition of novel by James: The novel is a direct and personal impression of life (and
that is something that constitutes its value). In order to write the novelist should have the
freedom of execution. Different novelists choose different methods of execution and the
subject depends on the novelist. Some novelists cannot implement a successful
freedom of execution.
The peak of James`s criticism towards Besant is: There is no recipe how fiction should
be written. Besant gave very strict norms of fiction by the analogy of the novelist and a
painter. Besant: The laws of fiction are laid down with exactness and precision as the
laws of harmony and proportion. James disapproves of this identification and especially
of the words exactness and precision. He is strongly against exactness and precision.

We must remember that James does not criticize Besant 100% and only some rules are
criticized whereas other are approved.

Besant`s 9 rules

Experience is very important when a novelist wants to write something and the novelist
must write from his own experience

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Characters need to be real as ones can be met in real life

Class restriction rule: Besant says that a novelist from a lower-middle class should
stick to his own class i.e. not to write about characters of other classes

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Connected to the 1 : If the novelist comes from the countryside he should stick to his
own surroundings and should not dare to write about for example the military service
(very restrictive)

Novelists should take notes and those should be recorded in a common book and
the novel should be based on these notes

The characters need to be clear in outline; need to be evoked clearly and the
illustrations should not be based on their speech; through description is even worse

The novel must have a conscious purpose

It`s very difficult to evaluate the state of the novelist

The story is the most important thing in the novel

James`s positive and negative criticism

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Rule about reality: (2 ) James accepts the sense of reality but he explains that it is
very difficult to define reality. For example in Don Quixote we have different reality
than in David Copperfield –Dickens. ``Reality is a relative notion``. Reality is different
in different novels. So James partly accepts the rule but criticizes the rules of being
not exact or précised.

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Rule about experience (1 ) James puts the same question. It is very difficult to define
experience. He says that experience is great sensibility and he compares it to a huge
spider web. The spider web is full of _______ and they represent the impressions.

E.g. Thackeray`s daughter lived in the countryside but wrote about the protestant
people. She only saw a few protestant people in Paris and combined the impression
with her knowledge which resulted in a novel. ``Experience is a collection of
impressions``- James `not what is lived through life`. James approves that
experiences are important but he says that the author must write from his own
experience.

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Rule about countryside: (4 ) Mentioned with the example above

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Rule connecting notes: (5 ) James agrees that the novelist should take notes but
criticizes the part on which notes should be taken

Exactness and precision; James says that the tale of truth is very important – sense
of reality. The novelist should be preoccupied with peculiarities through which he
conveys the universal truth

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Rule- character clear in outline: (6 ) Not too much dialogue or description. James is
against clear distinction between novels of incidents and novels of characters. He
says `character is determination of incident` and `incident is illustration of character`.
The novel is an organic whole- dialogue + description is important.

Besant gives importance to selection. James relativizes this argument and he says
that selection is important but should be all inclusive. Novelists should not restrict
only to good things (as Besant states) but also to the bad side. Anything can be the
subject matter of a novel.

James draws on the importance of freedom of execution. ``The province of art is

every aspect of life`. The novelist needs to have the freedom of execution or freedom
of choice as to the subject matter (same argument as Virginia Woolf)

According to James the only distinction is between novels that have life and those
that don`t have life i.e. successful and unsuccessful.

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Rule (9 ): James agrees with Besant`s rule that the most important thing is the story but
only to a certain point because he says that the story is as important as the novel The
story is the idea and the novel is the form. James points out that the novel is as

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important as the form.

Besant says that the story is successful if it has adventure in it. James disapproves and
says that adventure may but not necessarily must be the subject matter of the novel.

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Rule by Besant: (7 ) He disagrees completely and says that morality is a completely
different matter of fiction. The novelist is successful he will be able to convey all aspects
of life and morality (beauty and truth).

James says that the English novel addresses the younger population and that`s why it is
shy and does not tackle any controversial issues. The English novel EXCLUDES
morality.
N.B. James gives advice to the novel writers:
Novels should be sincere

Novels should address all the aspects of life (gives examples of different novelist:
Austen, Dickens who shared glory but tackled different matters. Even pessimism should
be included: `The Shallow English` - novel
James: No danger of generalization, but of particularization. L

Unit 3 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (his life)

We will only mention information from his life that are used as intertextual references
because they are important for the understanding of the fiction and for emerging new
meanings.

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Conrad`s mother tongue was not English because French was his 1 language. English
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was not even his 2 language. He wrote sophisticated English although he was Polish (this
is important for the anthropological understanding of the novella). He later was a Polish
inhabitant in a part of Russia (cultural understanding). He was a person of Polish culture.
His father was translator and poet. He translated from English and French. He together with
his family were persecuted because he supported the fight for Polish independence. They
were sent to Siberia where they died. Conrad became orphan early and he was adopted by
his uncle on mother side and his uncle educated him well.

Conrad`s real name was Josef Korzeniowski. He was in Russia during the period of
Polish fight for independence of Russia. So he was part of the inferior class compared to
the Russians who were the superiors (Inferiority and superiority in the novella).

Conrad did not like the strict rules of education and took a tutor who did not succeed to
change his views. He decided to be a sailor in the French navy and went in many places
which are described in some of his fictions. He participated in rebellions and attempted
to suicide himself and thus proclaimed to be undesirable and was prevented from
working in the French navy. He was still addicted to the life at sea and transferred from a
French sailor into an English one. He worked as a British sailor for 16 years during
which he learned English and got British citizenship.

The journey to Congo 1890s fascinated him. He got the position at a steamer by the
help of a female relative. The steamer had to be repaired and Conrad became ill and he
did not finish his assignment as a captain of the steamer.

After the Congo experience he decided to quit sailing and became a writer
He started writing his novella in 1899 and published it in sequences in a magazine. He
published the complete work in 1902 in a book entitled `Youth` in which here were two
other stories. When it was published in this book it was thought to be inferior in
comparison with the two others.

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At the beginning of the 20 c. the novella was criticized for the dark atmosphere

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and the ambiguity of meaning because there were multiple meanings.

So at first, the criticism was negative because people were used to works that
celebrated the Victorian system of values and his work was ambiguous regarding this
question. It was considered to be unacceptable.

Some critics who focused on the excessive use of adjectives said that they were
unnecessary. (inexplicable etc.) The critics said that the adjectives should not be there
and they do not contribute to the atmosphere.

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In the 2 half of the 20 c. with the exception of Chinua Achebe` s Image of Africa
(1975) the line of criticism changed and there was a positive criticism. The excessive
use of adjectives brought about the development of the atmosphere. The sinister,
ominous atmosphere was produced due to the craftsmanship of Conrad. The adjectives
and the atmosphere brought about the multidimensional meanings of the objects.

Positive line of criticism

Conrad may seem to praise the things he wants to criticize because he uses the
language of the imperialist ideology. It is very difficult to criticize using the language of
the colonizer.

Although Marlow does not do anything to help the natives, his observation is a kind of
mental attack of the colonists

We may think that there is even something misanthropic in the presentation of the
natives but we must remember that he does the same to the white people (e.g. Eldorado
expedition- worse than animals)

A deconstructive subversion of conventional symbols: Whiteness- pejorative meaning;

whited sepulchre – Brussels which contains horrors. Imagery of the sepulchre again
present at the end of the novella when Marlow visits Kurtz`s Intended (everything
reminds of a sepulchre). The whiteness of the white people is not white but stands for
their evil. The dark complexion of the natives does not stand for evil but for purity and
innocence. Finally heart of darkness refers to the heart of the white people.

Narration

Conrad succeeds in distancing himself from the work of art by using 2 narrators
(something similar to Eliot`s objective correlative). Marlow`s views are not Conrad`s
views because Conrad is Polish and Marlow stands for English person. There are also
other allusions that show that Marlow`s views are different. The first narrator is the
introductory narrator and he introduces Marlow. He narrates what Marlow narrates. The
second narrator is Marlow. He renders embedded narrative.

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Method of indirection: Frame and embedded narration. Frame narrator- 1 : Sailor,
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anonymous, speaks in 1 person plural and introduces Marlow. Begins the story on the
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steamer Nelly on the Thames River. 2 narrator- embedded, intermediary speaks in 1
person singular and in inverted commas.

Women in Heart of Darkness

Women are thought to be very marginalized in Heart of Darkness. A kind of men`s world
is presented in the novella. Some Feminist critics take Achebe`s argument that Conrad
marginalizes natives so that they can develop their argument that in the same as natives
are marginalized, women are too. The presentation of women is that of an antithesis of
men, very unrealistic.

Women stand for the Victorian system of values.

Feminists objected to this novella because women are rarely mentioned; however
women are not that unimportant because they stand for the whole system of Victorian
values and they believe in it. E.g. they believe that people go in wilderness to civilize
natives and that they go for noble goals

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Ant of Marlow and Kurtz`s Intended stand as a symbol of domesticity and false system
of Victorian values. Kurtz`s Intended lives in lies.

The two woman at the beginning; Not ignorant women they evoke the sinister and
ominous atmosphere; they may be said to be the guardians of the darkness and they
are spinning the destiny of people. The one with glasses- symbol of wisdom. These two
women are exception and are different from the other women in the novella.

The native woman: Kurtz`s mistress is both wild and earthly creature. She is not talking
but howling. She is annihilated as a human being and is presented as a contrast to the
white beautiful Intended.
Deconstruction

Achebe approaches the text from a deconstruction point of view. Jacques Derrida
initiated this deconstruction theory in the 60s & 70s in his ``Speech and Phenomena``.

Deconstruction- radical development that affects philosophy, literature, psychoanalyses.

Deconstruction is when we compare the implicit and explicit place of discourse in order to
find radical incongruities in logic. These incongruities are hidden within the text.
There are 3 steps in the deconstruction:

Establishing binary oppositions and making hierarchy of them

E.g. white and black: darkness and whiteness.

The conventional symbolism is subverted. In the conventional symbolism white stands

for good and black for bad and in the subverted hierarchy white stands for bad and dark
for good. We have subverting of hierarchy.

Inversion or subversion: to put the two elements in equal putting in order to show their
difference. Each element is worthy but different.

Cultural theory

Different view of the noble savage. Conventional view is that the savage is noble but
here we have something different. Savagery is violated. The focus is on the life of the
wilderness as rather bad. Pessimistic view of human nature. But we must remember that
in the novel savagery refers more to the white men than those which are referred to as
savages i.e. the natives. E.g. Cannibals show restraint but Kurtz does not.

Evil within human nature

Kurtz as an argument stands for the macrocosm- attitude of the entire world. Heart of
darkness- heart of the white colonists.

Natives are excluded from the darkness but Conrad in other stories present black
people affected by civilization but are deployed by European imperialism and work in
service of imperialism. They lose their innocence.
Inherent evil of humans

Black evil: When blacks come into contact with the civilization they lose their
purity

Anthropological or cultural theory: People are potential evil and even civilized people in
wilderness become evil.
Psychoanalyses

Marlow`s journey of self-discovery; search for identity; very complex psychological

insight of the character; what happens to the white people when they go to wilderness.
E.g. the doctor takes measures of the brain of Marlow and says that there will be
changes in the mind: people if return alive, go mad.

ID- all white people: Kurtz, Captain (show animalistic features)

EGO- Marlow- because he is between ID an superego: he recognizes the

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animalistic features and potential evil but does not succumb to them; he feels
compassion towards the black people

SUPEREGO- It is not easy to establish a character for the superego but here we may say
that Marlow`s ant stands for the superego because she has a kind of moralistic role.
New Historicism
In the deconstructive readings the history was left aside as unimportant.

Restores the importance of the historical context of the work of art. The work of art is not
only something that is part of one period but it can be subject to different interpretations.

Contemporary approach pays attention to the historical background but even history can
be relative J.

Pays attention to the context but also to the text

Readers response approach
Achebe`s point of view

Criticism of colonialism

Symbols

Regarding the symbolism the novella may be considered as post modernist because of
the subversion of symbolism and the multidimensionality of one symbol

E.g. Darkness
Physical darkness (darkness of jungle)

Black people

White people

Darkness of unknown

River Congo and Thames: Congo: wilderness and Thames: civilization but again there is
subverted symbolism: Marlow says that Thames also stood for darkness having in mind
Roman invasion
Universal darkness

The novella begins and ends on Thames. Even there darkness is present. Final words of the
novella: Immense Darkness is falling. Darkness on Thames not on Congo.
Unit 4 A passage to India- E.M. Forster (02.03.2011)

Colonialism- Historical point of view

British imperialism developed as a result of the British trading in North American colonies or
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over the world. That was at the end of 16 and beginning of 17 c. At the peak of its power,
Britain encompassed ¼ of the Planet`s territories and its population. The territories was so
vast that the proverb says `there is always sun in Britain`.

British imperialism in Asia and India is connected with English East India Company-
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1617- started trading right by the Mughal Empire. In the 18 c. with the decline of the
Mughal Empire English East India Company started to show other tendencies (not only
trading). This marked the beginning of colonialism. Everything started from trading, then
invading territories.

By 1857 England became greatest economic power. There was a war between the EEIC
and the French counterpart in which the EEIC won. Thus before 1857 almost entire India
and Asia were conquered.

Sepoys- were the Indian natives who worked as soldiers for Britain. The decline of EEIC
came as a result of the same Sepoys- 1857- who organized rebellion which lasted for 6
months and EEIC dissolved in 1858.

The British Empire acquired another institution for exercising power and that was the British
Raj. It started in 1858 and the event which are described in a Passage

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to India belong to the time when Britain ruled through the British Raj.

In A Passage to India Britain found excuse for being there to keep peace between
the Indians and Hindus.- which is partly true.

1900- the British Raj succeeded in holding the population. In 1926 the
Commonwealth was founded- it was an association of independent states but allied
to the British Crown.

Roots of British colonialism are to be found in the profit- ivory, diamonds, exotic
vegetables which were to be found in abundance in India and that is why India is the
most important colony in Asia.

India gained independence but under the condition of losing Pakistan. Europeans
created a Muslim, Islamic state of Pakistan. Hindus remained in India.

Hinduism

World`s oldest religion. Mixture of movement over a period of 4000 years. It is not a
monotheistic religion but belief in more than one deity.

The Indian trinity is known as trimurta. The 3 deities are the following:
Brama- the creator

Vishnu- the preserver and maintainer

Shiva- the destroyer

But these distinctions should not be taken for granted because for example Vishnu in
addition to being maintainer id also a destroyer in the sense that he maintains and
preserves not only the good but also bad.

Reincarnation- dead is not a final end of the cycle; from one form the soul enters
another form- cat, dog; cycle of life.

In Hinduism, one of the main beliefs is that there should be a balance between good
and evil- duality. In Christian religion there is strict distinction between what is good
( God) and evil (Satan).

Here the evil is as important as the good.

Shiva is supposed to be the destroyer but not only destroyer but also protector in the
sense that it protects the souls from the evil.

The individual soul is known as Ahman and it should be fused with Brahmal- ultimate
reality in which all individual souls are fused. Brahmal stands for unity of all living
beings.

In Hinduism the Gods have different number of incarnations. For example Vishnu
th th
has incarnations and Krishna is the 8 incarnation and the 10 yet should come (as if
second coming of Christ).
Vishnu has 4 arms which imply the different number of incarnations . Krishna is born
in a family of shepherds (contact with Gopis????????? )

Shiva- destroyer, keeps the souls until they are ready to reincarnate. Destroyer
implies creation and that`s why the dance of Shiva stands for the constant forming
and dissolving of the cycle of life.

Brahman: cycle of life and death; change of incarnations from one body to other;
ones the soulf fuses with reality – liberation of soul

Concept of unity of all life

Boom boom- sound that is heard in the caves; a kind of echo. Boom is a parody of the
Indian word OM which stands for oneness. God is love and god is in every human being.
All human beings and living creatures are part of the Hindu religion because all deserve
God`s blessing. Even the little wasp. Moore subconsciously addresses the wasp with
kind words and thus exercises the philosophical idea of Hinduism.

12
In comparison with Christianity, Hinduism is far more inclusive religion. In Christianity
all mammals are included but not the little wasp and bacteria. Christianity is
somehow more exclusive in comparison to Hinduism.

Unity of all life is the central concept of the novel. How to solve the muddle of India?
The solution is implicitly implied- GOD LOVES EVERYONE.

Forster is atheist, but he shows sympathy toward Hinduism but also sometimes is
critical towards it.

Wasp
st
1 Moore addresses it
nd
2 the missionaries talk about the wasp

rd
3 birth of Krishna and Moore

Other side of the story

The problem arises from the fact that good and evil are equal in Hinduism. Thus they
do not have values at all.

Negative principle: Behind what we see on the surface, there is an ultimate reality
that cannot be grasped and cannot be defined with attributes. This reality has to do
with the concept of NETI NETI- not this, not this- beyond speech. It is repeated in
several points in the novel. For example the Marabar Caves are described with the
words nothing, nothing. Godbole is supposed to describe the experience at the
caves and he says I don`t know. The problem of oneness is SAMENESS. Nobody
should care about thing in life- ALIENATION. The unity of life contains the danger of
alienation. Hinduism is in fact unity of diversities.

Mr. Moore

Moore is part of the Hindu vision- and her physical death is not end for her because
her mental presence is there – ESMISS ESMOORE- a name of a Hindu deity-
goddess. The shouting of her name is a turning point for Adela Quested because she
realizes that Azis is innocent. Moore`s indifference- understands that good and evil
are the same- nothing has value. Even in death she was able to preserve the
balance; Azis acquitted but was haunted until the rest of his life.

Cultural clash

India is a mixture of different languages, religions, groups. The clash is not just
between the English and the Indians but also between Muslims and Hindus.

For example: Dr Azis`S friend gossiped Godbole who is Hindu. Ronny discusses the
animosity between Muslims and Hindus. The Muslims at the Moharem celebration
take towels and pass through the Hindu camps and they deliberately take higher
towels to ruin the branches of the trees of the Hindus. Dr Azis is not understood by
the Hindus when he says `What I think is right, it turns to be wrong`. Example of the
cultural clash between the English and Muslims is the unsuccessful Bridge party.
The architecture: Indians- lack of architecture, formlessness, shapelessness except
for the Mosque and the Temple. No strict distinction, everything blurs into a muddle.
On the other hand English- everything has form, right angles, architecture of Venice.
The muddle of India can have positive meaning- diversity of Indian and pejorative
meaning- disorder, chaos.

Fielding asks from Azis not to ask money from Adela, but Azis thinks that he likes
her. Azis is very impulsive and emotional.

Stereotype of English: herd instinct- all people are around Adela at the court. If Adela

13
is attacked all women think that they will be attacked.

Mr Fielding criticizes the lack of politeness not only of the Indians but also of the
British officials.

Colonial discourse- questionable here

English people want to label everything. Indian defies labeling.

Symbols
Caves- multidimensional meaning
Hollowness of Christian religion

Hinduism

Unity of diversity- possible solution to the problem

Subconsciousness

Mrs Moore encompasses the 3 religions

She is Christian although she criticizes Christianity- Little talkative Christianity

Shows understanding of Islam- takes off her shoes in the Mosques- Azis tells r that
she is Oriental
Part of Hindu Vision

Dr Azis- changes moods quickly, poet, teacher, overrated politeness, emotional

response to things- reason for disagreement with Fielding, Not very honest- invites
the ladies to the caves- later forgets, English people take everything for granted and
want to label things.

Professor Godbole- song connected to the milkmade,

Narrative

All knowing narrator- knows everything but says as much as he thinks the audience
should know. Plus addition of different points of view through the narration of Azis,
Moore ets

Unit 5 Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence (09.03.2011)

Theoretical aspect

Psychoanalyses applied in the novel; One element of the psychoanalyses of Freud is

applied in the novel and that element is the Oedipus Complex. It has to do with the
subconscious, subconsciously repressed ideas, they do not exist in our
consciousness and are related to the notion of having desire to process the parent
from the opposite sex and to eliminate the parent from the same sex.

According to psychologists the ego-development of a child happens when the children

is between 3 and 5.

Freud devices this complex from the relation of the son, mother and father, which
means that it is more compatible to sons than daughters. Later the relationship of
daughters with fathers is included. Freud was criticized by the feminists who argued
that the concept focuses on boys, not on girls.

VIP moment in the development of the consciousness of a child; in order to have a

normal development one child needs to undergo through the face of Oedipus
resolution- moment when the child starts identifying with the father and somehow
rejects his relationship with his mother. Oedipus resolution comes as a result of the
castration anxiety (to girls it comes as a result of penis envy J)

This marks the entry into the social and healthy development of the child`s personality
and it is important for the gender and identity of personality.

If a boy fails to identify with his father and stays entrapped in the imagining relationship

14
with his mother the result is homosexuality, pedophilia etc.

Freud proved that homosexuality is not inherent but a developed characteristic

through the childhood.

Oedipus complex- unconscious urges, the people who don`t go through the process
of Oedipus resolution are mother fixated.

Oedipus complex- Greek story (if you want read it)

Relation to the novel

The novel is not a classical example of Oedipus complex not even a comparison.
Why? Because Paul hates his father from the moment he is born and he even
wishes his father was dead. The novel ends with a completely different end. The son
kills his mother out of euthanasia.

Publications of the novel

When the novel was first released for publication it was not published and was highly
censored. The novel underwent 3 versions:
st
1 written before the death of Lawrence`s mother
nd
2 after the death he changes the novel

rd
3 gave it to a publisher, but the publisher was disgusted and didn’t want to publish it
because there was too much sex and violence.

th
Lawrence was too emotion to rewrite the novel and the 4 edition was published but
again censored by Edward Garnett – he cut off one tenth of the novel- the part that
contained allusions of sex and passion. It was censored because of improper style.

The full version was released in 1992 by Cambridge. In the version of 1913 portion
of William`s life was cut off (we read that publication).

An autobiographical novel or not?

According to many critics, it is an autobiographical novel (as A portrait Of The Artist

as a Young Man).

Lawrence was also a son of a miner but his mother and father did not belong to the
upper-middle class. His mother was a teacher but belonged to the low class. His father
Arthur was a miner. They lived in Eastwood which in the novel becomes Westwood-
mining area, builds settlement for well to do people and for poor people at the bottoms.
(hell row- they live in a row of houses. The Morels have the last house in the row plus an
additional yard. Gertrud Morel somehow feels that she is better than the other wives of
the mines and looks down on the neighborhood and mingles with the priest)

The implications of industrialization permeate the novel: factory, sounds of train, The
time is not like in the Victorian era, here we have highly developed industrialized
society.
The mining area in Nottingham Shire is represented through the novel. The aim is to
emphasize the contrast between the industrial area and nature which is described as
the Garden of Eden. Nature and flowers are very important in the novel because we
get to know about the characters through their communication with nature.

Intertextual references

Miriam was based on a girl called Jessie who was girlfriend to Lawrence for a long
time. She was an intellectual and he shared with her all his opinion and even his
draft of the novels. They broke up when she read the novel J.

Clara is based on __________ similar to Clara. The difference is that he marries this
girl. His relationship with his mother is similar to that described in the novel but she
did not come from the upper classes.

15
Theme of classes

Social concerns connected with the industrialized society. There were great
economic classes and great social upheavals thus blurring of classes. The
upheavals appeared as a result of the mergence of the proletarian class as Walter
Morel- worked in mines since 10 years. The working class tried to fight the bosses
from the companies. The workers were fighting for better conditions.

Economic and social conditions are important for the theme of classes in the novel.
Walter Morel represent the working class, Gertrud Morel represents the upper-middle
class. There was a class difference between them- they were incompatible one for
another.

William, Paul and Arthur are examples of social mobility-climbing up on the social
level.

st nd
1 William works in London as a school teacher- part of the industrialized society 2 Paul
works at the Jordans- part of the industrialized society

rd
3 Arthur works at a company connected to electricity- part of the industrialized
society. Their mother wanted their sons to be well established in the society, not as
their father was.

The social movement is also presented by the moving of the house to the hill- they
secured better positions in the society.

Hell row- the dwelling places were constructed for the poor folks. Miriam is a swine girl
but wants to learn and becomes a teacher.

Eternal struggle for sexual power

We can see this struggle in the relationship between Walter and Gertrud Morel. Both
want to be dominant and assert their superiority. Walter ends up being defeated.
Why? His sons hate him, even Paul prays his father to die.

Walter is close to his younger son- Arthur.

Gertrud wins in the struggle because she is the head of the family and because
Walter is afraid of her.

Result of the dominant figure of Gertrud is that Walter ends up being alcoholic.
Walter is intellectually inferior and the only way out from the position is to drink.

Mother-son relationship
Freud`s psychoanalyses:

The classical Oedipus cases: Boys like Paul are mother fixated and search for
women that are like their mother.

After the first months of the marriage between Gertrud and Walter based on passion
she realizes that she was deceived by him and the house they lived in was a rented
house- beginning of their failed marriage. When she is locked out of the house and
pregnant she doesn’t want Paul and she thinks on leaving Walter but then she
decides that she will live for her son.

A mature man should become independent but she becomes very possessful and
tries to find a substitute for the failed loved to her husband and she finds this in her
sons. Although they do not have a sexual relationship, the mental impact is so great
that the sons cannot have normal relationships with women.

When Walter is ill, Gertrud does not feel as much compassion as when their sons
are ill. She has a special sort of love for her sons. She wants to posses the souls of
William and Paul.

When William goes to London she is so horrified that she feel that the reason why he

16
goes there is for her. He is having an affair with Louisa and Gertrud dislikes her very
much. William is not that into her too. When he dies Louisa is not that in pain. Gertrud
cannot get over the death of William but when Paul becomes ill she awakens from the
nightmare because he may die too. Thus the whole focus is on Paul.

The novel was first entitled `Paul`s Morel` but later it was changed to `Sons and
lovers`. When Paul meets Miriam she immediately dislikes her and says that she will
absorb his soul and there will be nothing left for her. –selfish because she realizes
that the relationship between Paul and Miriam is not a sexual one but a psychological.
Paul tells his mother that he always wants to come home and he dumps Miriam for
the sake of his mother because he thought that whenever Gertrud sees Miriam with
him she suffers.

When they go on excursion and Paul sees how the health of his mother is not good
he wishes he was the oldest son and spent more time with his mother. He wished his
father would die and thus spend more time with his mother.

Paul becomes a substitute husband- not physically.

Religion
Exam question: Deal with religious themes and attitudes in two novels
Religion is this novel is presented through the character of Miriam.

Gertrud is also religious- Puritan and fond of exchanging ideas about religion-
philosophical.

Miriam is a swine girl but wants to learn and becomes a teacher. (example of social
mobility). She has a special communication with nature and special way of treating
people. Paul disliked her attitudes. She understood nature as the garden of Eden –
virginity. Paul even tells her that she is a nun. She does not want to have a sexual
relationship with him but only spiritual. Paul doesn’t accept this because he is not that
religious. Sex was a kind of sacrifice for Miriam. When they make love she is very cold
with him.- end of their relationship. The problem of the character of Miriam is that she
really acts as if a nun. She want Paul to share the same religious attitudes as her.

Symbolism of nature

Not only Miriam has a special connection with nature, but also other characters find
themselves in nature. Nature usually has a soothing effect on the characters and it
serves as a contrast to the industrial world. The pastoral idea is presented through
nature.

Nature is different symbol for different characters.

Lilies- when Gertrud is locked outside the house- symbol of death of their

arriage

Rose-bush- Miriam touches the white petals- virginity, puritanical attitudes wards sex,
Paul is suffocated with the rose bush

Different types of flowers- Clara: red flowers- passion, physical aspect of love d
sensuality; red color stands for the drops of blood- she is a married woman but
spends e with other man.

Ash-tree- rustling sounds- The leaves stand for Mr. Morel and the hatred that e sons
feel for him

Back yard- when there is a tension the characters go in nature and it has a othing
effects- how powerful it is compare dto the industrial land.

Unit 6 ``Preface to The Nigger of the ``Narcissus```` + ``Aspects of the Novel``

17
Literary Impressionism
Sorted in several categories:

One of the categories is symbolism and it is applicable to modernist fiction. It

originates from the art movement and is greatly influenced by French symbolist
Baudelaire, Mallarme.

Literary impressionism means when the writer focuses on the mental state of the
characters, impressions, feelings rather than on descriptions. Direct representation
of the mental states of the characters;

Impressionists: Conrad, Woolf, Joyce

Joseph Conrad: ``Preface to The Nigger of the ``Narcissus```` What the task of
the artist is?

It is a Preface to the novel ``Nigger of the Narcissus` written in 1897-1898 published

in the book edition of the novel. The novel in which Conrad shows his craftsmanship.
It talks about the task of the artist. Artist means novelist in the preface.

The subtitle is the `TASK OF THE ARTIST` . The importance is on the reality, life and
truth.

Henry James as all other theoreticians underline the meaning of life; fiction should
reflect life; opposite of romantic fiction where heroic age is presented. The sense of
reality and life is VIP.

Conrad underlines the importance of truth and defines art.

`` And art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind
of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one,
underlying its every aspect``.

When he says art he means fiction. What does single minded attempt means? An
attempt of the single writer. To render justice to the visible universe- refers to the
scope of fiction, its subject matter- any part of the visible universe. By bringing to
light the truth- Conrad`s truth is the revelation of the substance, color; the VIP idea is
to seize the day, time is transitory. His truth can be compared to the consciousness
of reality reality and life.

He makes a comparison between a novelist and a scientistin order to underline the

scope of the novelist. He says that the novelist plunges into ideas whereas the
scientist plunges into facts. The ideas of the novelist are different and the novelist
appeal is superior because the novelist looks from within himself and what appeals
to the part of the reader is the gift e.g. sense of mystery; The appeal of the scientists
is transitory because acts are substitute with new facts. Although the appeal of the
scientist may seem short it is long and enduring.

The motif justifies the matter; ``Everything can be a subject matter of fiction``, any
obscure episode- Woolf says the same.

In the manifesto of Conrad`s literary impressionism he explains how he appeals to

the readers. The appeal of the writer to the appeal of the reader; He appeals to the
reader through impressions which are conveyed through senses.

Another parallel is made between a writer and a painter(color), musician (sounds),

sculptor(hand, materials). The special vehicle for the writer is the word. The writer
can be compared to all these people because the writer also appeals through
impressions. That`s why he is similar.

What is the task of the artist?

The task of the artist is by the power of the written word to make the readers hear,
feel and SEE. Conrad takes the position of impressionist, Senses are underlined. We
receive what the writer has done through our senses.

18
He emphasizes the importance of the moment. Objective time- moment- a transient
but Conrad wants to freeze it, capture the time and reveal the substance of truth.
Woolf also speaks about seizing the moment.

Conrad gives tips for the novelist as James: A good writer (in general) should avoid
the temporary formulas of art and realism, romanticism. What is important is art. Art
for the art`s sake. Writer should write fiction for the fiction`s sake.

Conclusion of the essay:

With an illustrative metaphor he compares the goals of a writer to the goals of a

laborer on a field. He says: What the laborer wants to do? Searching for a definite
goal. He draws the parallel to certain extend that the job of the writer is as difficult as
that of the laborer but we cannot define what is the goal of the writer. But the goal of
the laborer can be seen by looking in nature and can be seized. The goals of the
writer are obscure and not definite, where as the goals of the laborer are definite. We
should not search for definite goal, the priority should be given to impressions.

Edward M. Forster: ``Aspects of the Novel``(1927)

This essay is based on a compilation of his lectures. There are 7 aspects but we will
discuss the first 3. At the beginning of the book Forster points out humanity or human
aspect as VIP element in fiction.

Importance of life and reality: the sense of reality.

Forster is traditional in some aspects. The narrative technique is based on monition

narration (traditional part) + different points of view (modernist).

He uses the word `aspects` deliberately to allow freedom regarding how the novelists
treat his work of art and how the readers receive it. He allows freedom of
interpretation. The seven aspects are:
Story

People

Plot

Fantasy

Prophecy

Pattern

Rhythm

Story is the lowest artist form and he underlines the importance of the story. e
definition of story he gives is very traditional ``narrative of events arranged according
their time sequence``. Traditional view of the narrative different from Woolf and Joyce.

Chronological order of events. He gives another definition: Story is like a tape worm-
the worm does not have a beginning and an end and this implies that the beginning
and the ending of the novel is arbitrary. In this sense he is modernist. The second
definition appears as contradiction to the first one.

Story- highest distinctive forms. If the story makes the reader want to know what will
happen next it is successful.

People are human beings. There should be an affinity between the writer and
characters because they are all human beings. He explains the ideas of the

portance of life. The characters in the fiction need to parallel real life people; but we
nnot take people and put in a novel and vice versa, so he means that they should not
incide but have a parallel life.

The novelist has many ingrediants that he needs to combine; the novelist should
focus on the relation of the character with other characters, plot, setting, atmosphere.
But characters do not always comply. The characters are rebellious to he require of
the creator.

19
Characters: creations in side creation. The writer should make a balance between the
freedom of the characters and the control of the novelist..

• Plot is the highest and most complicated. (story-lowest artistic plot). He mpares the
plot to a government official (gives orders). The plot has a control over the aracters
and demands of the characters to compy with complications, crisis, solutions. e
characters do not always comply because if they do it would be a play.

Definition of plot: ``Plot is a narrative of events but the emphasis is not on the
chronological order but on posality??``

Example: King dies, queen died- story; king died and queen dies after him of grief-
plot

Why the Novel matters?

D.H. Lawrence

Lawrence emphasizes 3 points:

Unity between the body and the soul

Importance of the whole (whole is superior to the part)

Importance of life

The essay is very illustrative because it contains many metaphors. It challenges the
Christian doctrine because according to it we live in our body until our death and then
the soul exists in the Paradise or Hell. The body is something transients and it is
inferior to the soul. The soul is important. Lawrence challenges this view and says that
the body is as important as the soul; the body and his fingers. The body is
compared to a bottle of wine and ones the wine is drunk the bottle is dropped away.
The concept of me alive is present

He asks why his hand should be less important than his brain when if you cut your
finger it will bleed, so it is alive. To support this he makes a comparison between a
writer (novelist) and the priest, philosophers and scientists.

The priest (soul) says that what matters is paradise but according to Lawrence
Paradise comes after life and what comes afterlife is not important. The reality of life
is important for Lawrence. The parson has a limited occupation and he deals with
after life.

The philosopher (spirit) cares about infinite spirit and knowledge. Lawrence says that
the philosopher is limited because considers only the spirit and he thinks that
knowledge is received through senses. If the spirit reaches other spirit the message
will be conveyed. Only then the spirit will matter. The spirit on itself means nothing.
Life is what matters.

The scientist (body) is preoccupied with the body and is focused on body parts and
not on soul (thus one sided)

The novelist is superior to all of them because he is not one sided. He is all
inclusive: body, spirit, mind and soul.

Importance of the whole: whole is greater than the part and the whole matters. He
defines the novel: Novel is a bright book life. Why? Because it encompasses all the
aspects. He claims that the Bible is also a book and the persons in it are characters
and not saints. Thus he claims that the bible is a great novel.

He says that the novel is VIP, because it teaches us to be versatile, focuses the
attention on different aspects of life and nothing is absolutely good or bad.

He again challenges the Christian doctrine (the world never changes); according to
him the world changes and cannot be taken for granted. The nature revives every

20
spring, it is a subject of change, but not transient – permanent.

Every human being is an assembly of incompatible parts. The novel does not pin down
the integrity of human beings but presents human beings as they are.

Life is defined differently with different people. In real life there are no black and white
characters. Nothing is absolutely good or bad in life. What is good in one occasion is
bad in other. The novel teaches us to develop an instinct for life, not what is good or bad.
The most important thing is life, me alive, real life characters. Life can be given a full
play only through the novel. The novel is the unity of body and soul and the concept of
me-alive refers to the concept of life.

Modern fiction
Virginia Woolf

The essay was published in the collection ``Common reader`` in 1925 and it is entitled
Modern Fiction. First Woolf talks about traditional writers such as Austen and Fielding
and makes a comparison between traditional writers and contemporary ones (modern,
of her age).

She claims that the work of modern writers is always an improvement of that of the
authors of the previous generations. But it is very difficult to compare the writing of fiction
and the production of machines. She does not say that modern writers are better
(mitigates it) but says that traditional writers had simple tools and modern writers have
better opportunities. Historians of literature and the readership should decide which are
better.

She introduces the real subject of her essay: she is not preoccupied with traditional
writers but with modern writers.

She makes a distinction between 2 types of modern writers:

Materialists (John Galsworthy, George Wells, Arnold Bennett)

Spiritualists (James Joyce)

Materialists
She argues in favor of the spiritual writers.

The materialists wrote in the later phase of the Victorian era and the beginning of the
modern era- 400 pages novel, black and white characters, materialist- because there is
a progress in quantity and not in terms of quality. She criticizes Wells, Bennett and

_________.

Wells- a clock of clay, (“In the case of Mr. Wells it falls notably wide of the mark.

And yet even in his case it indicates to our thinking the fatal alloy in his genius, the great
clod of clay that has got itself mixed up with the purity of his inspiration.”) he is too
generous with his characters, virtuous and always provides happy endings; Woolf
criticizes him for that and he acts as if a kind of an officer showing compassion and he is
preoccupied with the beautiful side of life, not the bad side; the characters are not
realistic, they are positive or negative; deficient in terms of human nature because
human nature is not black or white.
Bennett- (“But Mr. Bennett is perhaps the worst culprit of the three, inasmuch as he is by far
the best workman. He can make a book so well constructed and solid in its craftsmanship
that it is difficult for the most exacting of critics to see through what chink or crevice decay
can creep in. There is not so much as a draught between the frames of the windows, or a
crack in the boards. And yet--if life should refuse to live there? That is a risk which the
creator of "The Old Wives' Tale," George Cannon, Edwin Clayhanger, and hosts of other
figures, * may well claim to have surmounted. His characters live abundantly, even
unexpectedly, but it still remains to ask how do they live, and what do

21
they live for? More and more they seem to us, deserting even the well-built villa in the
Five Towns, to spend their time in some softly padded first-class railway carriage, fitted
with bells and buttons innumerable; and the destiny to which they travel so luxuriously
becomes more and more unquestionably an eternity of bliss spent in the very best hotel
in Brighton.”) an excellent craftsman from a technical point of view but the characters he
writes about are not realistic, they live luxurious life; they are presented as perfection
and it is not what life really is

• __________- also preoccupied with life but he is too compassionate, he is not realistic.

She objects that the authors make the transitory things, short lived thins ad permanent
things- true value. Life escapes in their work. Their fiction lacks life and the characters
are not realistic.

She sums up: All materialist obey strict rules as in Henry James` essay. Those rules are
plot, tragedy, comedy, specific atmosphere, patterned books as if there is an official that
tells them to write in the same patters. Woolf argues against strict rules in fiction. Writers
should write fiction as they like. She restrains from defining life and focuses on the
importance of trivial moments- The materialist focus only on shallow things, happy
moments that are not realistic and they obey strict forms.

What life is?

She restrains from giving a definition but gives a metaphor. Life as she explains should
be contained in fiction. "Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a
luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of
consciousness to the end." She is against any kind of formulas, patters and that`s why
she uses the metaphor of gig lamps which are symmetrical; luminous halo- she
emphasizes the importance of the little moments and trivial things seemingly
unimportant.

The luminous halo refers to the unimportant moments that bombard our mind every day.

Semi-transparent envelope- consciousness is presented as an ice-berg and what is seen is

the top, so she alludes to the subconsciousness; the stream of consciousness novel should
include both consciousness and subconsciousness. What goes in the mind? Instead of
describing the actions the writer enters the mind of the characters and follows his thoughts-
VIP- new technique- stream of consciousness.

The task of the writer

The task of the writer is to seize the moment, only seemingly unimportant- when they
become part of fiction they become permanent. He should describe the characters by
entering their mind and not by describing their actions.

Spiritualists

Portrait of an artist as a young man and Ulysses are written with stream of
consciousness method. It is very interesting how Joyce pictures the myriad of atoms and
how he shows the importance of the seemingly unimportant things. The writer using his
method of execution shows us the substance of life made by the seemingly unimportant
things. The everyday life and the ordinary moment are very important.
She praises Hardy and Conrad but they are different from Joyce because they ate not
stream of consciousness novelists. To show how important Joyce`s fiction is she
compares it to that of Hardy and Conrad. The only objection addressed to Joyce is that
he is too much focused on the minds of the characters. The whole novel is

22
rendered through the mind of the characters, so thenovel is not so rich as the fiction
of Conrad and Hardy where many other characters and atmospheres are involved
Ouestion on Method: She concludes that the writer should not be limited and should
choose his method because any method is applicable in fiction. (Joyce vs. Hardy:
both methods are applicable and acceptable).

Other representatives: Russian writers were also spiritualists and Woolf says that
modern writers are interested in the dark side of psychology. Russian are the best in
describing suffering (heart and soul). For example, Chekhov’s short story Gusev does
not follow the pattern of writing a short story, but there is enormous significance.

Russian vs British fiction: When she compares Russian with British fiction she says
that British fiction is more deficient, shallow and superficial. She does not say that
Russian is better, but she is talking about two completely different cultures and says
that Russians are excellent for heart but their stories are inconclusive and there is no
answer. It is impossible to compare Russians with British because that are two
different cultures and Russians write about suffering, whereas British are used to
fighting and to the beautiful side of life so they incorporate splendors of the body in
their writing and they often write comedies.

There should be no prescription, so if you write about suffering it does not mean that
it will be an excellent piece of writing. You should only grasp the moments and seize
the importance of the seemingly unimportant things in life. Both Russians and British
methods are right because anything can be a proper staff for fiction. Fiction should
be developed and liable to arguments and criticism. Fiction should introduce themes
compatible to the age. She argues in favour of some kind of dynamic fiction.

James Joyce (Aesthetic Theory)

The aesthetic theory is divided in 2 parts:

PART 1

1st part contains three element: In his theory points out that every object, including
the most ordinary objects can be subject to perception (a basket); e.g. when Stephen
sees the girl on the shore, he perceives her as an aesthetic object not a sexual
object. 1st part it is about beauty in more general sense, it must go through all 3
phases to achieve epiphany.

Wholeness (integritas): the first element of beauty is wholeness; we separate the

object from the rest of the world and we forget about the rest of the world. This step
corresponds to the perception of one thing- the wholeness of that thing- synthesis of
perception. The attention is not on the parts but on the whole- that`s why it is synthesis.

Harmony (consonantia): first we perceive the object as one thing, now the focus is on
the parts, the elements, the relationships of the parts to the whole, are they harmonious
to the whole; analysis of apprehension. The object is perceived as a thing.

Radiance (claritas): the 3rd element is the climax. Based on Plato (who mentions
idealism) and Aquinas- James Joyce makes an original meaning of concept of epiphany;
the whatness of the thing, several definitions of concept of epiphany(sto treba da gi
naucime) without mentioning it. Refers to Shelley and other romantic poets who believed
that the poet is gifted being the one who receives illumination to get inspiration= which is
a moment of epiphany, metaphorically compares it to a fading coal; luminous silence
stasis the cardial- the emphasis is on the silence, everything happens there. The
epiphany can happen only after the object is perceived as a whole and that thing. One
needs to understand the wholeness and the harmony in order to

23
understand the radiance. You think it happens on a second of time (subjective time)
and you remember it forever.

*** Luigi Galvani- enchantment of the heart compared to the moment of heart attack,
moment when time freezes, heart stops and it is the subjective time which is
prolonged

PART 2

The second part focuses on the genres: lyrical, epical and dramatic. the focus is on
the senses and mind but not only on the artist but through readers also; to what
extent the genres are the most subjective or objective.

4. Lyrical form: most subjective and personal form, related to emotions and feelings
of the poet. Def: the simplest verbal vesture of an instant of emotion, it is an
immediate relation to the person of the artist (Eliot separates the work from the poet);
you turn emotions into words.

Definition: the simplest verbal vesture of an instant of emotion, it is an immediate

relation to the person of the artist.

5. Epical form: neither subjective nor objective (it begins as subjective in the 1st
person sing, but then it becomes more detached and objective), example with ballad,
it is somewhere in between lyrical and dramatic

Definition: the simplest epical form is seen emerging out of lyrical literature when
the artist prolongs and broods upon himself as the centre of epical event and this
form progresses till the centre of emotional gravity is equidistant from the artist
himself and the others. It is in mediate relation to himself and to others.

6. Dramatic form: the most objective form, it is set to an immediate relationship to

the reader, how he will understand the work of art, and the work of art becomes
separated of its creator, extinction of the personality of the author, how the reader will
interpret it, the work of art will last forever; the artist remains detached and there is a
complete extinction of the personality of the author

Definition: the dramatic form is reached when the vitality which has flowed and
eddied round each person fills every person with such vital force that he or she
assumes a proper and intangible esthetic life. The esthetic image in the dramatic
form is life purified in and reprojected from the human imagination. It is in immediate
relation to others.

Stream of consciousness novel

-Psychoanalysis had an enormous impact on literature; as a result of this a specific

technique called stream of consciousness was developed. Stream of consciousness
novel involves narrator who presents the thoughts of the characters directly from
their minds, so the flux of thoughts is given. Characters are not portrayed from the
objective point of view, but from the subjective.

E.g. George Eliot presents inner states of characters from within;

-Sensations, thoughts and feelings are presented without any explanation. We don’t
even know how these sensations and thoughts are connected with each other and
sometimes it is very difficult to understand because a sensation which takes a
second in real time is explained in five pages by the author.

-In stream of consciousness novel, there is no chronological order of time, but there
are constant flashbacks and history is penetrating in the present.

- We don’t really have events in the traditional sense of the word; there are only
thoughts and feelings. There is no narration of events and it is hard to follow the

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narration of the author. What is consciousness?

-Consciousness is entre area of mental attention, including rational awareness. It has

to do with Freud’s explanations of the two levels of consciousness: speech and pre-
speech. Consciousness is like an iceberg, you can see the top, but you do not know
what is under the surface. Novelists focus on the pre-speech, or in other words, the
things that cannot be seen under the top of the iceberg.

Robert Humphrey’s four techniques

1. Direct interior monologue: there is negligible interference of the author and it is

no audience consumed. The things are presented directly from the minds of the
characters and 1st person singular narration is used.

2. Indirect interior monologue: the presence of the author is more obvious and 3rd
or in some cases 2nd person singular narration is used. There are explanatory
comments such as she said, and it is audience assumed. The presented direct
thoughts are directed to the audience.

3. Omniscient narration: all-knowing narrator and he tells as much as he thinks the

audience needs to know. The difference between the traditional omniscient narration and
this one is that in the traditional the narrator is all-knowing from the external point of
view, whereas here he is all-knowing from the point of view within the characters.

4. Soliloquy: the difference between direct, indirect and omniscient with the soliloquy
is the fact that soliloquy is the unspoken monologue of the character, but there is no
narrator and the emotions and ideas are connected to the plot and the action. It is
audience assumed.

E.g. Joyce uses mostly indirect interior monologue and the same thing goes for Woolf.

Cinematic techniques

Cinematic techniques are techniques used by Joyce and Woolf, and the same
techniques are also used in films.

Cinematic technique in Mrs. Dalloway: panorama view is used and this is the overall
view of the setting. Mrs. Dalloway goes to the flower shop at the beginning of the novel
and the whole environment around her is described (plane, flowers, traffic, people…).

Multiple view: in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, there is no multiple point of
view because we can hear only Stephen’s view. On the other hand, in Mrs. Dalloway
there are more points of view and there are cases when Mrs. Dalloway is presented by
sporadic characters that can be mentioned only ones in the book. When we see some
characteristic of a specific character, we see it through the perceptions and feelings of
the other characters in the novel. In Mrs. Dalloway, it is used in order to show more
detailed perceptions. This technique not only is used in stream of consciousness novel,
but it is also used in the post-modernist novel: one action may be presented through
different people and their perceptions of the event. The reliability of the reading is shaken
in the post modernist novel by the usage of this technique.

Flashback: an external object from within provokes a sensation from the past. It is
used in A Portrait and in Mrs. Dalloway. This is a widely used technique which is not
only used in the stream of consciousness novel.

Close-up: the narration closes up on a certain character and his feelings.

Fade out: one scene disappears and another takes its place. It can be connected
with close up and flashback.

Epiphany is not a literary concept originally; it is more a religious one. Joyce introduces

25
it into the fiction, although it is not mentioned anywhere in A Portrait; it was
mentioned in the original script that was called Stephen Hero.

History of epiphany:

In Greek mythology: it meant unexpected appearance or manifestation of a divinity.

Appropriated in Greek drama: it meant a sudden appearance of God on the stage.

12.Appropriated in Christianity: used for liturgical purposes and referred to

commemorate the day when the Magi brought presents to Jesus. It was the first
manifestation of divinity to foreign travelers.

13. In literature: Joyce admits that he borrowed some concepts from religion and
Thomas Aquinas.

Definition: By epiphany Joyce meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in

the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in the memorable face of the might itself. The
original meaning of epiphany is preserved, but the spiritual manifestation means
arrival of the deeper truth: you become familiar with something that was latently
there, but was not accepted by your consciousness. E.g. in the 4th chapter of A
Portrait, when Stephen sees the girl at the shore he becomes aware of the
importance of his own personality and has epiphany.

Epiphany is the revelatory climax of the aesthetic revelation (revelation of deeper

truth of human nature). When something was a part from the subconsciuosness
becomes part of the rational awareness. Epiphany is a moment when triviality blends
with significance. In A Portrait, there is aesthetic experience and epiphany is the most
important concept in Joyce’s aesthetic theory. The moment of epiphany is when the
mask slips and we see past convention; we experience epiphany and arrive at a
deeper truth, which is usually a personal truth.

Richard Ellmann - revelation of the whatness of a thing: Whatness is important

because it appears in the aesthetic theory and corresponds to the epiphany. The
climatic element of beauty is epiphany.

Van Ghent: an image Van sensually apprehended and emotionally. It is a vibrant

which communicates instantaneously the truth about the meaning of the experience.
Watson: epiphany is a fusion of objective fact and subjective consciousness. It is
something that happens in the external world and arrives at a deeper truth. The
moment of epiphany is triggered by a thing from the external world.

James Joyce – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Stephen Dedalus is the fictional Joyce. Joyce’s fiction is addressed to educated men
and the whole novel A Portrait is a kind of an impressionistic recording. One of the
key words in the novel is the word portrait and it stands for the portrait of emotional
development of Stephen Dedalus. The impressions are things that are grasped
through the senses, not through the ratio. One of the main epiphanies in the novel is
the moment when he understands that he is not to be a priest, but an artist.

-There are many literary allusions:

• Intertextual reference to Dante’s Divine Comedy: there is a female character called
Dante and this name is a reminder of a very important theme throughout the novel – the
divine comedy. For example, the third part of the book is dealing with a religious sermon.
After hearing father Arnall’s sermon, Stephen needs to confess in order to purify himself.
Stephen is unique, he is not like the other children and he is attracted to sounds, shapes
and forms. From this point we can see his artistic perception of the world. The story
about hell is a dramatic speech of the judgment day and it leaves great impression on
Stephen: he sees the picture of hell with excrements

26
and creatures because of the sins he has committed. He reprocesses the words of
the speech and the view of hell through his artistic imagination.

Intertextual reference to Ovid’s Metamorphosis: this is achieved through the

usage of Latin quotes. Stephen’s journey (or in other words metamorphosis) is from
a young, religious boy who starts to commit sins to a person who realizes that should
become an artist.

Intertextual reference to The Count of Monte Christo: Stephen indentifies with the
Count of Monte Christo and his love for Mercedes.

Byron and Shelley: Stephen writes in the style of these two poets.

The language of the novel

The language shows the spiritual development of Stephen. The novel opens with a
children story and Stephen identifies himself with one of the characters even then.
This shows the importance of art in his life. The language at the beginning is childish
and simplified, but it is very difficult to follow because it is full of sensations. It is like
as if the reader is in the mind of the child and sees the world from the child’s eyes. As
pages proceed, there is gradation of the complexity of language. When Stephen
confesses his sins, he becomes devoted catholic and his language becomes dry. As
the novel goes on, the language becomes little more coherent and it is based on
logic. Stephen goes from one extreme to another, from a sinner to a devoted
catholic. The language is most complex in the last part. Symbols of birds and flights:
reference to Dedalus and Icarus.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

The indirect technique is dominant in Woolf’s and Joyce’s novels; the only difference is
that Joyce uses the direct technique in A Portrait. In Mrs. Dalloway, there is more
omniscient narration, such as the case when William Bradshaw is described. There are
also some traces of dialogue in Mrs. Dalloway, such as the case when Peter Walsh and
Clarissa talk. The stream of thoughts is triggered by a memory, voice or some
object.Joyce uses omniscient narration in A Portrait; however it is an egocentric novel,
focusing on the mind of Stephen, except for the external dialogues such as Father
Arnall’s speech.

In Ulysses, which is a continuation of A Portrait, there are two central characters,

while in A Portrait there is only one central character: the novel is following the
thoughts of Stephen. In Mrs. Dalloway, the point of view shifts to different characters,
and a focal character is the character that gives his/her point of view. For example,
Peter Walsh gives his point of view about Clarissa. There are many sporadic
characters and sometimes a character is mentioned only once in order to give his
point of view. These sporadic characters are important because we understand the
character of Clarissa through them.

Virginia Woolf

- The sudden death of her mother in 1895, when Virginia was 13, and that of her half-
sister Stella two years later, led to the first of Virginia's several nervous breakdowns. She
was, however, able to take courses of study (some at degree level) in Greek, Latin,
German and history at the Ladies’ Department of King’s College London between 1897
and 1901, and this brought her into contact with some of the early reformers of women’s
higher education. The death of her father in 1904 provoked her most alarming collapse
and she was briefly institutionalized. Her breakdowns and subsequent recurring
depressive periods, modern scholars have suggested, were also influenced by the
sexual abuse she and Vanessa were subjected to by their half-

27
brothers George and Gerald Duckworth (which Woolf recalls in her autobiographical
essays A Sketch of the Past and 22 Hyde Park Gate). Throughout her life, Woolf was
plagued by periodic mood swings and associated illnesses. Though this instability
often affected her social life, her literary productivity continued with few breaks
through her life. (Taken from Wikipedia)

Historical Aspect

Mrs. Dalloway was published in 1925 and the whole novel happens in one day only.
The concept of time in the novel is more complex than time used in Joyce’s novel.

The 19th century is the peak of the British Empire; the novel centers on the period
after WWI when the demise of the British Empire is evident and this is shown in the
book, there is nothing glorious about the Empire. It is in decline, the colonial
positions are questioned and people who were enlisted during WWI became very
much disillusioned because they realize d that the values they had fought for were
no longer there. Soldiers tried to defend the values of the British Empire, but the
decline of the values disappointed them.

1916 – The Battle of Somme River: great number of casualties. The Victorian system
of values that was imposed on people as a model of propriety was no longer
acceptable. E.g. Septimus is an example of the disappointed soldiers.

1918 – Universal Suffrage Movement: Woolf was one of the first feminists who
introduced new concepts and ways of looking feminism. She presented her views
and says: ‘A woman needs a room for her own to work in privacy’. This is mentioned
in the book and she also says that the woman needs to be paid.

Conservatives lose their power and the Labour Party gets more power with their
explanation that they will focus on economy and more realistic things. The country
needed to be reconstructed in any point of view after WWI.

Feminism and madness (possible exam question)

Theme of madness (possible essay topic): the total breakdown of Woolf happened
around WWII because she was disappointed by the war and everything that had
happened in her life, so she put her overcoat, filled its pockets with stones and
jumped into the River Ouse near her home and drowned.

Mental illness: Septimus, as the shell-shocked war hero, operates as a pointed criticism
of the treatment of mental illness and depression. Woolf lashes out at the medical
discourse through Septimus' decline and suicide; his doctors make snap judgments
about his condition, talk to him mainly through his wife and dismiss his urgent
confessions before he can make them. Dr. Holmes remarks that Septimus "was not ill. Dr
Holmes said there was nothing the matter with him". Woolf goes beyond criticizing the
treatment of mental illness. Using the characters of Clarissa and Rezia, she makes the
argument that people can only interpret Septimus' shell-shock according to their cultural
norms. Throughout the course of the novel Clarissa does not meet Septimus. Clarissa's
reality is vastly different from that of Septimus; his presence in London is unknown to
Clarissa until his death becomes idle chat at her party. By never having these characters
meet, Woolf is suggesting that mental illness can be contained to the individuals who
suffer from it without others who remain unaffected ever having to witness it. This allows
Woolf to weave her criticism of the treatment of the mentally ill with her larger argument,
which is the criticism of society's class structure. Her use of Septimus as the
stereotypically traumatized man from the war is her way to show that there were still
reminders of the First World War in 1923 London. These ripples affect Mrs. Dalloway and
readers spanning generations. Shell shock or post traumatic stress disorder is an
important addition to the early 20th

28
century canon of post-war British Literature. There are similarities in Septimus'
condition to Woolf's struggles with bipolar disorder (they both hallucinate that birds
sing in Greek and Woolf once attempted to throw herself out of a window as
Septimus does). Woolf eventually committed suicide by drowning. The validity of
psychologists and physicians is questioned in the novel (Woolf was visiting
psychologists during her life and this is why she is critical towards them).

Water imagery: water imagery is very important and stands for death in the novel.
E.g. when Septimus jumps and kills himself, he sees the water from his window. It is
also connected with mortality (“The leaden circles dissolved in the air”) and passing
of time shown by the Big Ben. Audible imagery is mixed with water, and time passing
indicates mortality. Clarissa is very scared of mortality.

Feminism: As a commentary on inter-war society, Clarissa's character highlights the

role of women as the proverbial "Angel in the House" and embodies sexual and
economic repression and the narcissism of bourgeois women who have never known
the hunger and insecurity of working women. She keeps up with and even embraces
the social expectations of the wife of a patrician politician but she is still able to
express herself and find distinction in the parties she throws. Her old friend Sally
Seton, whom Clarissa admires dearly, is remembered as a great independent
woman: She smoked cigars, once ran down a corridor naked to fetch her sponge-
bag and made bold, unladylike statements to get a reaction from people. When
Clarissa meets her in the present day, she turns out to be a perfect housewife,
having married a self-made rich man and given birth to five sons.

Feminism is tackled in Mrs. Dalloway, but we can say that Clarissa is a Victorian
woman: she sacrifices her emotions in order to become a wife of Richard Dalloway
and to penetrate into the higher social classes.

Woolf introduces the concept of androgynous mind and she says that the writer’s
mind is not a male or a female because the gender is not important. She says the
woman can writes as well as the man can do it.

Bloomsbury group: a literary group whose name came from the area where they
met; the members were literary critics and artists who merged together and debated,
although free debate was not allowed in that time. Woolf was a bisexual, although
she married Leonard Woolf with whom she founded the Hogarth Press where many
popular books were published, such as Woolf’s and T.S.Eliot’s. She had relationships
with women, and she mentions a homosexual kiss between two women in Mrs.
Dalloway. The ethos of the Bloomsbury group encouraged a liberal approach to
sexuality, taboo subjects were discussed and many homosexual relations happened.
Homosexuality: Clarissa Dalloway is strongly attracted to Sally at Bourton — 34
years later, she still considers the kiss they shared to be the happiest moment of her
life. She feels about women "as men feel" (from "Mrs Dalloway"), but she does not
recognize these feelings as signs of homosexuality. Similarly, Septimus is haunted by
the image of his dear friend Evans. Evans, his commanding officer, is described as
being "undemonstrative in the company of women". Woolf describes Septimus and
Evans behaving together like "two dogs playing on a hearth-rug" who, inseparable,
"had to be together, share with each other, fight with each other, quarrel with each
other..." Jean E. Kennard notes that the word "share" could easily be read in a
Forsteran manner, perhaps as in Forster's Maurice which shows the word's use in
this period to describe homosexual relations. Kennard is one to note Septimus'
"increasing revulsion at the idea of heterosexual sex", abstaining from sex with Rezia
and feeling that "the business of copulation was filth to him before the end.

29
Search for identity: ‘I am Mr. Richard Dalloway’s wife.’ In the beginning of the novel,
she is unhappy, and she is not even Clarissa, she is Mr. Dalloway’s wife. The
epiphany happens when she asserts her identity. During their youth, Peter Walsh
says that she will become a perfect hostess and will marry a Prime Minister. We can
see that she did become the perfect hostess and the wife of a powerful man. On the
surface, she exists only in the domestic sphere and for making parties, walking on
the streets and for empty chatter. She does not have a job; she is just the perfect
wife of a governmental official.

These descriptions are just in the margins of the novel, because the important things

happen in her mind. She is very complex and revolutionary. As Woolf in Modern
fiction says: ‘The mind of the ordinary man is bombarded by myriad of… and life is a
luminous halo’. This refers to all ordinary impressions and the fact that the life cannot
be subdued to some strict pattern, because it is a semi transparent envelope. Trivial
moments convert to moments of significance and the domestic life of Clarissa
becomes the sphere where something important happens. (Life consists of trivial
moments – a revolutionary idea in literature, because before this statement other
things such as heroes, damsels in distress and courtiers were the most important
things. Woolf gives significance to trivialities.)

Peter is also unstable in terms of his identity and masculinity: he is fidgeting his
pocket knife- an action that can stand for his insecurity and indecisiveness. He
should love the woman from India who is willing to divorce for him, but we can see
that he still has feelings for Clarissa.

Identity is important when Clarissa sees Richard for the first time – she cannot even
remember his name and she calls him Wickham. Ironically, she is now called Mrs.
Richard Dalloway.

Two opposite urges:

Urge for privacy: Clarissa needs privacy and she decides to marry Richard

Dalloway. Richard does not really know who Clarissa really is and this is one of the
reasons why she chooses him. She decides not to marry Peter Walsh with whom she
experiences emotional fulfillment. She rejects Peter and throughout the novel she
questions herself what would it be like if she had married Walsh. She rejects Peter
because he is too demanding.

Urge for communication: Mrs. Dalloway is a uniting force; there is no real

communication between her and Richard, so she partially fulfills her urge for
communication by throwing parties. Beneath the perfect hostess, she is still
searching for her identity.

Concept of epiphany: she opens the window overwhelmed with questions about
mortality. At the beginning of the novel, the chaining of Big Ben stands for the
passing of time and she is scared of death. She comes to terms to her own mortality
and she experiences a personal epiphany.

Septimus vs. Mrs. Dalloway: There is connection between Clarissa and Septimus. At
the beginning they both see the same plane; they share the love for Shakespeare and
repeat one line of Cymbeline ‘Fear no more the heat of the sun.’ this line stands for
death as a comfort that releases the character from the torments of life. When Clarissa
buys flowers she sees a play by Shakespeare and she repeats this line as Septimus
does. The boundaries between sanity and insanity are blurred. She is on the verge of
insanity. However, the flux of thoughts of any character is inconsistent and seems rather
insane. When it comes to Clarisse, she is torn apart from the urges, the search of
identity and she is on the verge of insanity as Septimus is. Septimus is not

30
understood by anyone and he sacrifices his body by jumping out the window. On the
contrary, Mrs. Dalloway decides to embrace life, does not jump from the window and
goes back to the party. After realizing the pattern of cotton wool, she decides to go
back to the party where Peter’s point of view is given and he takes us back many
years ago when she was young. When she descends the stairs she is like she was
in her 18s and here the cinematic technique is used.

Intertextual reference to Othello: Clarissa identifies herself with Othello who has
lost his wife. The lost love of Clarissa is Sally, not Peter Walsh.

Nature: we get to know some things for the characters by their communion with
nature. Both Clarissa and Septimus love trees because they think that the souls of
death people are in the roots of the trees. Flowers are also important symbol, and
the way Clarissa experiences flowers shows her emotionality.

The British Establishment: by marrying Richard, Clarissa becomes part of this

establishment and she feels guilty for Septimus death. She herself is oppressed by
the same society as Septimus was.

British Modernist Fiction

Three tendencies are very important for modern fiction:

Individuality – during this period we have a breakdown of the Victorian system of values which
were public conventions and norms and people were supposed to follow them. But with the
division between the reader and the author we have something completely opposite of the
Victorian values. Fiction begins focusing on the inner life of the characters.

The inner life is portrayed on the basis of the writer’s intuition. The problem was that
instead of the Victorian system of values the writers should provide their own individual
system of values focusing on the inner life of the characters. Different authors dealt
differently with the inner life of the characters. The side effect of individuality was isolation,
confinement (Marlow) which are in fact connected to alienation.

Treatment of time – in the Victorian fiction we had chronological order of the events but in
modern fiction we have a different treatment of time. Time is presented as a flux. Constant
flashbacks are used for the past and the present. There are constant flashbacks, back and
forth in time. Virginia Woolf had a specific notion of time. She distinguished between
objective (time by clock) and subjective time (as we experience it).

Stream of consciousness- This view was influenced by Freud’s discovery of the sub
consciousness. A new technique was introduced called ‘a stream of consciousness novel’. It
is related to the interior monologues of the characters and the author follows the thoughts
of the characters. The author points in the mind of the characters. The problem of this type
of novel and the only criticism was that it was too much one man centered. Always one
character is in the center of the attention. Problem: isolation, alienation of the character
based on his relationship with people.

Joseph Conrad (Joseph Teodor Conrad Korseniowski)

He was a Polish writer. Born in the Russian part of Poland, he had an ambiguous nationality,
identity. His talent was inherited from his father-poet and a translator. His mother died of
tuberculosis in 1865, and his father died in 1869, so he was left an orphan. He moved at his
uncle’s to be educated. He was very talented, he wanted to read and he disliked the rules of
the school and objected to the rules of the tutor. At the age of 17 he became a sailor. He had
many adventures and in one occasion he wanted to commit a suicide. In 1878 he got an

31
employment, he started to sail in the British Navy. He didn’t learn English at school, but as a
st nd
sailor. His mother tongue was Polish, his 1 language was French and his 2 language was
English but he didn’t master it to perfection. For him the form was more important than the
content. He used unconventional English and thus he was criticized for using such
inconclusive adjectives: unspeakable, inscrutable. It was sth completely new (for the people,
because they believed in fiction). He became a sailor and married a British woman. He was
seen in many exotic places. The ship in which he should take the position of a captain (that
his aunt found him) broke down and George Antony Clain, the captain of the other ship, took
the control but he was very sick and died. Conrad decided to return to civilization, he didn’t
complete the assignment. He decided to write his fiction and to stay on land thus becoming
a professional writer. He did sail to African Congo but it wasn’t a long journey to write about
in the novella. Congo was unexplored in the 1890’s, it was an interesting place.
“Heart of Darkness” 1902

Exerpts:

Marlow is on the African continent, on the shore and he sees how the natives are treated,
they are slaves. There are people who are building a railway station but there are some
holes and nobody knows what is the purpose of it. Obviously, somebody wants to torture
people. There are elements of irony, colonialism. Marlow has a sharp ability to see, but he
doesn’t act or help. Here are two perspectives:

-Canonical Anglo-Saxon criticism: he portrays colonialism, but he also condemns it, yet there
is no dehumanization of the natives- the narrator supports the attitude of Marlow.

-Achebe Chinua-nigger, writer, unique, very critical towards Marlow. The colonial discourse is
exposed. In the evening the slaves withdraw to see the death of nature; the natives are
dehumanized, deprived from language; they produce half-uttered grants and that is done
deliberately to show that they are not like the white people. The critique of Chinua is not
taken as canonical. The narrator supports the Chinua’s attitude.

Marlow sees the niggers, they’re jumping, they are like wild and yet Achebe is criticizing:
Why does Marlow say ‘Ugly’ for the negors?

Marlow is looking for Kurtz. Meanwhile he meets several white people who talk of him as a
genius guy and by the time he reaches the place where Kurtz is, he has a general idea of what
Kurtz is alike. Then he sees the house, abandoned, but with ornamental knobs (koka te varura
neper stube), but Marlow is not surprised. Kurtz obviously had turned to the worst of a criminal.
Killing is Kurtz’s practice. During this time Marlow is an unemotional, passive observer. “Marlow
is walking on the verge of the cliff, but he is not getting into the chasm”
There is no SUPER RGO outside the civilization, the latter makes them better.

This excerpt is included in the epigraph of “Hollow Men”-T.S Eliot. Marlow finally finds Kurtz who
is ill and spiritually failed because there is no moral behavior left in him. Marlow wants to squash
him as an insect but he decides to take him to civilization. During the voyage Kurtz dies. Before
dying he says: “The horror! The horror”. Marlow is fascinated by
Kurtz.

» Search for identity: Searching for Kurtz, Marlow searches for his own identity. He identifies
with Kurtz, but he is not the same. Kurtz’s fiancée believes Kurtz is noble, good man and
Marlow doesn’t chatter her illusions.

»Why is Marlow fascinated by Kurtz? Because he acknowledges the potential for evil within
himself. However, in the end he decides to go back to civilization in order not to become like

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Kurtz.

..and to this day I am unable to say what was Kurtz’s profession, whether he ever had any –
which was the greatest of his talents.

→Narrative technique: introductory narrator (a passenger on a pleasurable trip) who is

anonymous and represents the method of indirection (we get to know the characters in an
indirect way) and there is also an Intermediate narrator (Marlow)

The portrayal of white people is not well at all. Marlow dehumanizes the natives, black shapes,
shadows, inanimate objects (he refers to the black African People). Nigger becomes a taboo (it
wasn’t used anymore, it wasn’t insulting). Marlow is the best observer, he observes everything.
He gives a dying boy a biscuit, but he is very insensitive. Here he makes a questionable question:
Why he doesn’t bring him to the hospital? He is compared to an animal because he should have
done sth more, to lend him a hand. We can see how cruel the colonialism was. Marlow is the
most ambiguous character. His place is that of the EGO, he is keen observer, with his sharp eye,
he doesn’t commit evil or sins but he acknowledges the evil. He is in the middle; he is able to see
but not to act. He is trying to find his identity.

The Preface of Conrad’s “The nigger of the Narcissus” (the task of the artist)

It’s published in 1898 and it represents a literary impressionism in fiction. The author
focuses on the mental side of the character, his impressions, feelings, impressions conveyed
through senses.

He defines art as something that needs to convey truth. Art may be defined as a single-
minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe by bringing to
light the truth and underlying its every aspect.

Life=truth and reality; Art=fiction.

Fiction should deal with the moment, to seize, to snatch the moment and turn it to eternity.
The moment is evanescent, but the task of the novelist is to transpose the moment into
fiction and make it eternal.

Conrad compares the novelist to the thinker and the scientist. The thinker plunges into
ideas, whereas the scientist is interested in facts. The thinker and the scientist make an
appeal to our common sense and our intelligence. But, the artist’s appeal is different. He
descends within himself which is a gift and not an acquisition. So, fiction is for those who are
gifted to understand it. He compares the novelist to other artists: painter, sculptor and
musician. They also make their appeal to the senses of their audience. There are several
differences though. The special vehicle for the writer is the word. His/her words need to be
that powerful to convey the suggestiveness of music, the color of painting and the plasticity
of the sculpture. The novelist should point and sing through his words. The task of the artist
is to make the reader feel, hear and before all, to make him see. Again, the impression of
senses is emphasized.

The importance of the evanescent moment: (moment qe zhduket menjehere)

The artist should snatch the moment from the remorseless of life/time, in order to reveal
the substance of his truth. You make the time stop. Conrad is against different literary
movements, saying they are only temporary. He recommends not to write according to
romanticism, naturalism, realism, but to write for the art’s sake. The artist should
concentrate on art for art itself.

Colonialism and Hinduism

th
British Colonialism began in the end of the 16 C. The British Colonialism enterprise was not the
st
1 , but the Portugal, the Spanish. At first it was not really colonialism, but trading posts

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were set up whose aim was completely different- to trade, to exchange products from the
west, from far away countries. But things changed and the trading posts became colonial
posts.

Hinduism- one of the oldest religions, it developed in syncretism, with different religious
moments and cults. It did not have one single founder. The earliest phase of Hinduism is
known as Brahmanism which is a belief in the VETAS (holy sculptures) that conveyed the
doctrine of Brahman. This doctrine is the absolute reality (ultimate reality) which is the self
of all things and its identity with the individual souls. Belief in the unity of all life (most
important principle) the unity of all living beings. It means God is love and this love is shared
by everyone. All living beings have equal importance. The oneness is of great importance in
Hinduism. They have a holy trinity as TRIMURTA:

-Brahma- the creator

-Vishnu-the maintainer and preserver

-Shiva- the destroyer, God of darkness, associated with death (but death-birth) because this
has to do with reincarnation, life after death, the soul continues the cycle but it only changes
the shape.

Edward M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was born into a comfortable London family in 1879. His father, an
architect, died when Forster was very young, leaving the boy to be raised by his mother and
great-aunt. Forster proved to be a bright student, and he went on to attend Cambridge
University, graduating in 1901. He spent much of the next decade traveling and living
abroad, dividing his time between working as a journalist and writing short stories and
novels. Long before Forster first visited India, he had already gained a vivid picture of its
people and places from a young Indian Muslim named Syed Ross Masood, whom Forster
began tutoring in England starting in 1906. Forster and Masood became very close, and
Masood introduced Forster to several of his Indian friends. Echoes of the friendship between
the two can be seen in the characters of Fielding and Aziz in A Passage to India. By the time
Forster first visited India, in 1912, the Englishman was well prepared for his travels
throughout the country. Forster spent time with both Englishmen and Indians during his
visit, and he quickly found he preferred the company of the latter. He was troubled by the
racial oppression and deep cultural misunderstandings that divided the Indian people and
the British colonists, or, as they are called in A Passage to India, Anglo-Indians. Forster, a
homosexual living in a society and era largely unsympathetic to his lifestyle, had long
experienced prejudice and misunderstanding firsthand. It is no surprise, then, that Forster
felt sympathetic toward the Indian side of the colonial argument. Indeed, Forster became a
lifelong advocate for tolerance and understanding among people of different social classes,
races, and backgrounds. Forster began writing A Passage to India in 1913, just after his first
visit to India. The novel was not revised and completed, however, until well after his second
stay in India, in 1921, when he served as secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas State Senior.
Published in 1924, A Passage to India examines the racial misunderstandings and cultural
hypocrisies that characterized the complex interactions between Indians and the English
toward the end of the British occupation of India. Forster’s style is marked by his sympathy
for his characters, his ability to see more than one side of an argument or story, and his
fondness for simple, symbolic tales that neatly encapsulate large-scale problems and
conditions. These tendencies are all evident in A Passage to India, which was immediately
acclaimed as Forster’s masterpiece upon its publication. It is a traditional social and political

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novel, unconcerned with the technical innovation of some of Forster’s modernist
contemporaries such as Gertrude Stein or T.S. Eliot. A Passage to India is concerned,
however, with representing the chaos of modern human experience through patterns of
imagery and form. In this regard, Forster’s novel is similar to modernist works of the same
time period, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925).
A Passage to India was the last in a string of Forster’s novels in which his craft improved
markedly with each new work. After the novel’s publication, however, Forster never again
attained the level of craft or the depth of observation that characterized his early work. In
his later life, he contented himself primarily with writing critical essays and lectures, most
notably Aspects of the Novel (1927). In1946, Forster accepted a fellowship at Cambridge,
where he remained until his death in 1970.

Edward Forster “Aspects of the Novel” 1927

This essay is based on a compilation of Forster’s lectures, at Trinity College, University of

Cambridge. At the beginning he points out humanity. Humanity is an essential characteristic of

fiction. Without this the novel would be a failure. Fiction needs to be sagged (natopena) with
humanity. “Aspects” is a deliberately chosen word, since it’s vague and unscientific.

Thus the readers view the novel from different perspectives. Forster talks about seven
aspects: story, people, plot, fantasy and prophecy, pattern and rhythm.
Deal briefly with Forster’s aspect of novel.

Story is the lowest artistic form (story-telling aspect). It’s the commonest factor which occurs
in every novel, it’s the fundamental aspect of the novel. In this essay he appears both as a
traditional and as a modernist theoretician. Firstly, he gives a traditional definition of story:
“it is a narrative of events arranged according to their time sequence”. He pays attention to
the chronological order of events. But he also gives another definition:”Story is like a tape
worm” – the worm does not have a beginning nor an ending, and this implies that the
beginning and the ending of the novel is arbitrary-in this respect he is a modernist. So the
nd st
2 definition appears as a contradiction to the 1 one. Forster implies that the story may
begin in the middle. The story is continued in the minds of the readers. There is only one
quality of the story-if it makes the reader want to know what will happen next, it is
successful-the most important criteria.

-People (characters,authors)- Since the author is human and deals with people, there is an
affinity between him and his subject matter (his characters) because they are all human
beings. He explains the ideas of the importance of life. According to Forster, the novel is
usually about people. The characters in fiction need to parallel real life people. But we
cannot take people and put them in a novel and vice versa, so he means that they should
not coincide but have a parallel life. The novelist has many ingredients that he needs to
combine: the novelist should focus on the relation of the character with other characters,
plot, setting, and atmosphere. But, the characters do not always comply; they are rebellious
to the requirements of the creator. The characters are creations within a creation. They are
rebellious toward the plot and they live their individual lives. The novelist should strike a
balance. He should control the characters but also give them freedom too, so they could
parallel real life people.

-Plot- is the highest and most complicated artistic form (much higher aspect than the story).
Forster compares the plot to a governmental official whose task is to say to the characters where
their place is. The plot has a control over the characters and forces them to comply with
complications, crisis and solution. This process is indispensable for a play, a drama but it is not
indispensable for a novel. If the characters comply 100% it is a play. This is the formula

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