“Modern Fiction” is an essay originally written in 1919 but published later in 1921 by Virginia Woolf, highlights the basic features of the Modernist movement. Virginia Woolf was an English feminist, novelist, critic, and essayist. She is considered one of the most prominent figures in the modernist movement and her works exhibit the features of the contemporary movement.
Modernism is a literary movement that
started in the late nineteenth century and ended in the middle of the twentieth
century. It was characterized by a break away from the previous traditions set
in literature and Ezra Pound’s injunction to “make
it new!” became the benchmark of this movement. The basic
features of modernism especially modernist fiction included experimentation
with the style and form, individualism, absurdity of this world, inner-self,
and consciousness. “Modern Fiction” by Woolf also deals with the basic ideas of
how a modern text should be written. She presents this notion by stating
certain features of a modernist text in her essay.
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Firstly, according to Woolf in her essay “Modern Fiction”, the thoughts and ideas of an individual are more important than the thoughts and desires of society. In modernism, the theory of psychoanalysis by Freud was one of the main reasons why the emphasis was laid on the human mind and its notions rather than the society itself. Virginia Woolf in her essay, similarly states the importance of individualism and how the writers should not write for the satisfaction of society but what they want to present. She again focuses on the same notion of individualism as she criticizes writers like Herbert George Wells, Arnold Bennett, and John Galsworthy. She in her essay labels these Edwardian writers as materialistic writers: “If we tried to formulate our meaning in one word we should say that these three writers are materialistic” (Woolf).
This is solely because of the reason that these writers were concerned with the outward and apparent description of their character rather than presenting them as individuals. According to her the thoughts of the individual (the spirit) is more important than the plot or story itself. She harshly criticizes Arnold Beckett and labels him as “the worst culprit of the three” (Woolf) as his characters are away from reality: “how do they live and what do they live for” (Woolf). Similarly, she criticizes H.G. Wells as according to her he spends his time not producing literature but in doing works that “have been discharged by Government officials” (Woolf).
She presents the notion that a writer should not be a workman rather he should be an artist presenting reality in a non-systematic manner. In contrast with these Edwardian novelists, she mentions Anton Chekhov and gives reference from his short story “Gusev” in which the whole story is based on characters and their psychology rather than the plot itself. Similarly, she praises the writers like Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, and Joseph Conrad who broke away from the traditions set by these Edwardian novelists and laid emphasis on the thought process.
Secondly, she presents the idea that the text should not be arranged symmetrically and analytically as it is the representation of life.
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According to Woolf life is ever-changing:
“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelop surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end” (Woolf). As there are no limitations of human life; what one can do or not, similarly, there should be no limitations in fiction. In modernism, the experimentation with the style and forms of the text was observed. The theory of psychoanalysis by Freud and the theory of time by Henry Bergson were also significant as they inspired many writers including Virginia Woolf to experiment with form and style. The “Stream of Consciousness” is one of the most observed techniques employed by Woolf in her writings.
The stream of consciousness is a narrative technique in nondramatic fiction intended to render the flow of myriad impressions—visual, auditory, physical, associative, and subliminal—that impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). According to Woolf, there is no proper method to create a piece of fiction and literature as it is based on feeling, thought, and spirit. She highlights the inconsistency of human life and thought and how it should be represented through the means of literature: “It is the task of the novelist to convey this varying, this unknown and uncircumscribed spirit of life” (Woolf).
Lastly, Woolf in this essay highlights how the complexities of human life are an important subject matter. She disregards the search for the grand phenomenon of life rather brings to light the complexities and ugly side of human life focusing on reality which was the essence of modernism. Woolf in this essay also focuses on the notion that how human life is an ever-changing process and agrees with Eliot: “We do not come to write better, we only keep on moving now a little in this direction, and now in that but with a circular motion” (Woolf).
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In conclusion, one may say that “Modern Fiction” by Virginia Woolf is a true representation of modern principles for writing fiction as it not only focuses on the features of the modernist movement like experimentation with the style and form, individualism, absurdity of this world, inner-self and consciousness but also lays a guideline for future writers of fiction to follow.
This essay by Woolf exhibits her unique style as pointed by Sanders: “She seeks to represent the nature of transient sensation, or conscious and unconscious mental activity, and then to relate it outwards to a more universal awareness of pattern and rhythm” (Sanders, 2004).
Written by Syeda Areeba Fatima
