author
There are so many women writers who have written novels and poems but Virginia Woolf is among the writers who is a modernist novelist. She mainly gave space to the issues related to women and their struggles. She employs a stream-of-consciousness technique in her novel. I shall talk about her popular works in short in this article and you will get an idea of these works. if feminist literature interests you then you can buy any of these books and you will get so many different perspectives. You can get these works on sites like eBay.
1) The Jacob’s Room – this is the first of Virginia’s modernist or expressionist novels, it shows a young man Jacob who is involved in the society of the World War era. He is very confused and ambiguous in his relationship with people. Slowly his confusion is unraveled before us finally he enters the world war and dies there. The interesting fact of this novel is that we are not looking at the story from Jacob’s perspective but from the perspective of the women in Jacob’s life. It is not plot orientated but the development of character. The novel is full of fragmented narratives, and reflection which reveals the impossibility of communication. He wants to escape his present but can not escape. However, it is also said that it is modeled on the author’s brother Toby.
2) Mrs. Dollaway – This novel was published in 1923, it is about a Mrs. Dalloway whom we met in her first novel voyage out. In the beginning, we see her throwing a party. She is going to London to buy flowers when she walks across the street and notices the crowd in London, she feels distant from all of these people. There is a diversity of people in London, there are lots of people but she is lonely. There are two doctors who take care of a war veteran who is injured in the war but the captain dies after jumping from the war. Clarrisa, the narrator of the novel feels bad that she is responsible for this death due collective guilt of society. there is a lot of ambiguity in the novel.
To the Lighthouse- This novel was written in 1927 in which Virginia has used the stream of consciousness, nature, symbolism relationship, and spirituality the novel is set in Hebrides an island. The novel is divided into three parts. In the first part, there is a party but the guests are not having a good time due to the various differences over several issues but Mrs. Ramsay unites all people. The second section occurs after 10 years which shows that time is fluid and a lot of people have died including Mrs. Ramsay. The passing of time shows it is in flux and everchanging, it shows the relentless of time like the waves of the sea come one after another. In the third section, the trip to the lighthouse takes place by James which shows that our desires and dreams any not be fulfilled in the way we think about them.
Orlando- This is a fantasy novel where a man turns into a woman and reaches into the 16th century. He lives from the 16th century to the 19th century. It is a novel that casts relationships in new ways. it also shows the changes in society and a lot of writers such as Pope, Addison, and Swift are also present in the novel.
A room of one’s own- It is not a fiction work but a feminist work. It is a compilation of lectures that she gave in the colleges. While preparing for the lecture she realized that there is nothing of women writers. They do not have their own work. She also imagines that if Shakespeare had a sister what would have happened dot her because women do not have enough freedom. She advocates the women’s causes in this work. It can be considered as the bible for the feminist movement.
These are her works but there are some essays which are equally important which you can read to know more about her work.