Sitting on my couch, reading Virginia Woolf's Mark on the Wall, which I assigned, it occurs to me - "good grief, this reading is strange. Imperceptibly odd. One sentence paragraphs. Others are as long as a page." I would harshly judge any student paper that crossed my desk like this. It certainly isn't a 5 paragraph essay in the canonical form. No, it's not. Then why is it so imperceptibly brilliant? What has Woolf accomplished that Shakespeare did not? Or is she successful at all? In departing so thoroughly from all that we know, her writing falls flat on its (her) face. It's difficult to say, exactly, at this late hour. Perhaps it's the craft of her writing. The detail of her prose. Maybe it's in her willingness to break the mold and create anew. I wonder if. Wait. The content of her writing may be clear, but the meaning. It's elusive. And it does not accord to our usual style of language and speech. Maybe that's the brilliance. It just tumbles out.
http://www.scholarlyediting.org/2014/editions/intro.markonthewall.html
A few questions
1. Think about other fiction you have read? How does Woolf's writing style compare? What is different here?
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2. Let's assume that Woolf for a moment is a smart, clever writer. What is she trying to accomplish by writing in this manner?
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2. Let's assume that Woolf for a moment is a smart, clever writer. What is she trying to accomplish by writing in this manner?
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4. Are there any clues in "Mark" that might help us understand her larger point?
I would suggest glancing over this before class tomorrow. http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/dial/T&Vseminar/markplot.htm
It's not a magical key that will unlock Virginia Woolf's cabinet of mysteries. But it might help.
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