Woolf’s Ambiguities

Tonal Modernism, Narrative Strategy, Feminist Precursors

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, Theory
Cover of the book Woolf’s Ambiguities by Molly Hite, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Molly Hite ISBN: 9781501714467
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: December 15, 2017
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: Molly Hite
ISBN: 9781501714467
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: December 15, 2017
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

In a book that compares Virginia Woolf's writing with that of the novelist, actress, and feminist activist Elizabeth Robins (1862–1952), Molly Hite explores the fascinating connections between Woolf's aversion to women's "pleading a cause" in fiction and her narrative technique of complicating, minimizing, or omitting tonal cues. Hite shows how A Room of One's Own, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Voyage Out borrow from and implicitly criticize Robins's work.

Hite presents and develops the concept of narrative tone as a means to enrich and complicate our readings of Woolf's modernist novels. In Woolf's Ambiguities, she argues that the greatest formal innovation in Woolf's fiction is the muting, complicating, or effacing of textual pointers guiding how readers feel and make ethical judgments about characters and events. Much of Woolf's narrative prose, Hite proposes, thus refrains from endorsing a single position, not only adding value ambiguity to the cognitive ambiguity associated with modernist fiction generally, but explicitly rejecting the polemical intent of feminist novelists in the generation preceding her own. Hite also points out that Woolf reconsidered her rejection of polemical fiction later in her career. In the unfinished draft of her "essay-nove;" The Pargiters, Woolf created a brilliant new narrative form allowing her to make unequivocal value judgments.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In a book that compares Virginia Woolf's writing with that of the novelist, actress, and feminist activist Elizabeth Robins (1862–1952), Molly Hite explores the fascinating connections between Woolf's aversion to women's "pleading a cause" in fiction and her narrative technique of complicating, minimizing, or omitting tonal cues. Hite shows how A Room of One's Own, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Voyage Out borrow from and implicitly criticize Robins's work.

Hite presents and develops the concept of narrative tone as a means to enrich and complicate our readings of Woolf's modernist novels. In Woolf's Ambiguities, she argues that the greatest formal innovation in Woolf's fiction is the muting, complicating, or effacing of textual pointers guiding how readers feel and make ethical judgments about characters and events. Much of Woolf's narrative prose, Hite proposes, thus refrains from endorsing a single position, not only adding value ambiguity to the cognitive ambiguity associated with modernist fiction generally, but explicitly rejecting the polemical intent of feminist novelists in the generation preceding her own. Hite also points out that Woolf reconsidered her rejection of polemical fiction later in her career. In the unfinished draft of her "essay-nove;" The Pargiters, Woolf created a brilliant new narrative form allowing her to make unequivocal value judgments.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book The Battle for Fortune by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Sarajevo, 1941–1945 by Molly Hite
Cover of the book The Fleeting Promise of Art by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Citizen Science by Molly Hite
Cover of the book The East Country by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Talking about Machines by Molly Hite
Cover of the book The Electrification of Russia, 1880–1926 by Molly Hite
Cover of the book On Roman Religion by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Black Vienna by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Imperfect Strangers by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Chinatown No More by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Virtuosi Abroad by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Informal Workers and Collective Action by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Regime Shift by Molly Hite
Cover of the book Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond by Molly Hite
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy