Carmen Milligan

Academic Writing- James Joyce & Virginia Woolf

Woolf And Joyce For Modernist Literature

Engaging in the thoughtful literary process of Modernist elements, John Barth used his understanding of the grounding factors that were pushing to conclude the epitome of what they represented. Out of the numerous works created throughout the Modernist era, there was an immense focus on stream of consciousness, internal monologues, and the self-representation that the characters and narrators imposed upon their readers. The structure of time and setting were often used interchangeably to enhance the reader’s ability to understand the stances that were taken to make the text flow in a way that embodied the intended configuration of the background of Modernist literature. Transitioning through linear and metaphorical time was what allowed the readers to adopt the narrator or character’s mindset as their own.

As Barth said, “Its artistic strategy was the radical disruption of the linear flow of narrative,” there were various ways to creating such a “disruption.” Using the standardized internal monologue, James Joyce took advantage of this discourse by creating a run on sentence in Ulysses, filled with direction and subject changes, described dialogue, and the portrayal of the narrator’s emotional state when recalling the past and present time frames. The narration uses the woman’s feelings of attitude by stating, “O no thank you not in my house stealing my potatoes and the oysters 2/6 per doz going out to see her aunt if your please…(Joyce),” having her expel a complete and over sharing thought that would have been better received if it was separated from each idea. Instead, she had a manic stream of consciousness that grasped the reader’s pace of reading. Perhaps the easiest way to decipher the text was to read at the same swiftness as it was thought out.

Shortly after, she continued her conscious ramble, using a sudden change in the subject, back and forth between the ideas of a rather normal topic of food and stealing, to men and their appeal. There are only a few lines separating the thoughts, but it was as swift as the mind can race to change the topics. She stated, “Imaging Im him think of him can you feel him trying to make a whore of me what he never will he ought to give it up now at this age of life…(Joyce),” as she began a rather sexual context.

The Modernist style was not limited to certain topics or an explanation of situations as they occurred. Rather, the stream of conscious writing enforced an appeal that encouraged the reader to embark on the literary journey with the narrator. Though James Joyce was accredited for using different styles of stream of consciousness, Virginia Woolf represented a compelling variation of the theme. Referring the Barth’s analysis of Modernist elements having, “an inclination to subjective distortion to point up the evanescence of the social world of the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie,” Woolf took advantage of her more condensed, simple use of the mind.

In “Kew Gardens,” the omniscient narrator depicted a lovely setting, with realistic backgrounds to coincide with the passing of time. Simon recalled his past saying, “We sat somewhere over there by a lake and I begged her to marry me all through the afternoon, (Woolf)” and he put the conversation into an extended stream of consciousness. Partnering with the gaze into the past, Simon described the setting, “How the dragonfly kept circling round us: how clearly I see the dragonfly and her shoe with the square silver buckle at the toe, (Woolf),” making a connection between the past and bringing it to the future as he can “see” instead of “saw.” Woolf used this moment to distort the interchangeability of past and present; the act of remembering is the present mixed with the past, alluding to the mixed states, but at the same time, having the readers be able to recall the memory while experiencing a current vision. Changing sequences, the story continues with a transition to “This time they were both men (Woolf),” as there was a direct link between past and present. The alteration between reality and the past was a clearing factor to extend the importance of Simon’s offer versus the reality of the changes around him.

John Barth’s system of understanding was represented well by Virginia Woolf and James Joyce as they used the stream of consciousness and elements of the interaction and expectations of the social world. Though both of the author’s texts have great variation, they fit the structure of Barth’s usage of the analysis of Modernist elements of writing.