Woolf: A Guide for the Perplexed

Virginia Woolf is one of the best-known and most influential modernist writers; an iconic figure, her image and reference to her work and life appear in the most varied of cultural sites. Her writing is, however, in many ways kaleidoscopic and has given rise to a diverse and, sometimes, conflicting body of critical work. Whilst Woolf envisaged that her readers could be ‘fellow-worker[s]' in the creative process, there is much to perplex any reader approaching her writing, especially for the first time. Drawing on some of the main critical debates and on Woolf's non-fictional writings, this guide untangles some of the difficulties and perplexities that can prove a barrier to understanding of Woolf's writing. These include aspects of the process of writing (such as narrative techniques, formal structures, characterisation), as well as the thematic concerns so central to Woolf's writing, the cultural context in which it emerged and to recent criticism, including representations of gender and sexuality, class and race.

[CC] Simpson (Cardiff Metropolitan Univ., UK) offers an insightful and approachable explanation Woolf's narrative techniques, poetic language, and characterizations … Simpson points out that unlike realist writers, Woolf emphasizes the inner life and consciousness of the characters. Simpson links themes such as empire and imperialism, anti-Semitism, and class structure to the works associated with them, once again offering clear explanations … [T]hose struggling with Woolf's complex, rich narrative structures will welcome this addition to the "Guides for the Perplexed" series. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.

Kathryn Simpson Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK, where she primarily teaches modernist, contemporary and nineteenth-century literature. She is author of Gifts, Markets and Economies of Desire in Virginia Woolf (2008).