Fiction: Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence and
James Joyce
Write a note on modern fiction with special reference to D.H.
Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and James Joyce.
OR
Write an essay on the development of English novel from 1980-1985
Answer:
A novel is a piece of prose fiction of a reasonable
length. The modern age is essentially the age of novel. A number of trends and
tendencies are visible in 20th century fiction. The novel was mainly
confined to the discussion of the problems confronting in the society. In this
period, novel was essentially “A Novel of Ideas”. It provided a free discussion
regarding different views and ideas, scientific improvement and new inventions,
social problems, political conflict and industrial development. In the later
part of the 20th century, the novel became an instrument for the
expression of realism. Fiction was farther occupied by romantic tendencies.
Here a love of romance, adventure and exotic tends became popularized. The
credit mostly goes to Conrad as he presented the scenes of tropical jungles and
sea life in his most popular novels like “Heart of Darkness”, “Lord Jim” and “The
Secret Sharer”. A new tendency started to enter in English fiction that
is the glorification of sex and human emotions through the hands of D.H. Lawrence
and James Joyce. These novelists treat the physical side of sex and passion in
a realistic manner without attempting to hide facts about them.
Next the psychological tendencies
became more and more pronounced in English fiction. The chief exponents of this
style are Dorothy Richardson, James
Joyce and Virginia Woolf. These novelists popularized another concept known
as “Stream
of Consciousness” style which was
originally coined by William James in
his book, “The Principles of Psychology” to describe the flow of inner
experience. The style became influential after the technique was used by James Joyce in his masterpiece “Ulysses”.
The other
important characteristics of modern fiction are the exploration of East which
was successfully employed by E.M.
Forster in his famous novel, “A Passage to India”. Modern fiction
also shows interest in detective fiction, regional fiction, biographical and
autobiographical fiction; and scientific fiction. In this way modern novel of
20th presented new taste and temperament its readers.
D.H. Lawrence:-
Few
novelists divide their audience more justically than D.H. Lawrence. His writing
has a depth and intensity. He was one of the most remarkable and striking
figures in the literary world between the two wars. He was prominently the
novelist of sex life, physical passion and animalism. In the words of critics,
Lawrence is a full bloodedly metaphysical novelist and these in English culture
are rare birds, he is not mannered, civilized or social able. In Lawrence’s
famous novel, “Sons and Lovers” (1913), he expressed his faith in physical
life in the following words: “"My great religion is a belief in the blood, the flesh, as being
wiser than the intellect”. Lawrence first novel was “The White Peacock”. In this novel
Lawrence presents the conflict
between man and woman. In another novel, “The Rainbow”, he again concentrated on the themative
interest of human life. In 1926, he
published the much critised book, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. This book was
band in England for several years. Still Lawrence remains a novelist of
instinct, sense and feelings modern materialism, artificial conventions and
pretending nature of sophisticated society. He shot to escape from money
mindness of modern civilization and the ugliness of society. The city
contribution of Lawrence as a novelist of 20th century lies in the
fact that he had a proper understanding of human hopes and passion. He presents
men and women in their true relation with their proper understanding.
James
Joyce:-
James
Joyce is one of the prominent literary figures of the 20th century. He
was the main exponent of the psychological novel based on the representation of
the stream of consciousness. His “Ulysses”
is the finest example of the subjective method of modern fiction. Another important
work of Joyce is “A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man”. It is an
autobiographical work and the protagonist Stephen
Dedalus is the representative of the novelist. Joyce’s another important
work is “Finnegans Wake” where he
projected a study of history of human race from its earliest beginnings to the
modern period.
James Joyce belongs to the group of psychological
sum realistic novelists of 20th century. He is a serious novelist
whose concern is chiefly with human relationship and man’s position in the
whole human civilization. At the same time, Joyce is a comedian and his novels
are rich in playful comedy. On the whole, his genius is for the comic rather than
the tragic view of life. His humour is different from narrow comedy to
intellectual wit. As a technician, James Joyce is an experimenter, even anxious
to explore different methods and doing so he found his ultimate method of
stream of consciousness technique.
Virginia Woolf:
Woolf
occupies a position of importance in 20th century fiction for she
gave to the ‘Stream of Consciousness’ novel
a new twist which James Joyce had not been able to impart. The first novel of
significance published by Virginia Woolf was “The Voyage Out”(1915) followed by
“Night and Day”(1919). In both
the works, she made a comprehensive study of the inner thinking of men and women.
Her first mature novel was “Jacob’s Room”(3rd
Novel) which presents her personal vision of life and experience. Her
novel, “Mrs Dalloway”(1925) exhibits
a further expression of men-women relationship which was connected in a loose
and scattered manners. Her “To the Lighthouse”
is considered as the best novel of the celebrated artist projects the every
aspects of human life. The novel is divided into three parts, Part-I, “The Window”, Part-II, “Time Passes” and Part-III, “The Lighthouse”. The
story of the novel is the experience of Professor Ramsay and his wife on a
holiday. The novelist projected both the characters as the selfless individuals
who were more concern for the whole society. “The Waves”(1931) was the first novel in which Woolf implied the “Stream of Consciousness” technique for
the first time.
Virginia
Woolf rejected the conventional conception of the novel as a realistic presentation
of life from the objective point of view. She adopted the method of
psychological truth and aimed at expressing the reality of the life of spirit. The
laid emphasizes not on incident, exter and description and strait
forward narration but one which is the presentation of character through the
stream of consciousness method. She has followed the technique of internal,
monologue to reveal mind and heart of her character. Virginia Woolf was a great
love of beauty and her novels highlights her aesthetic delight in the lovely
aspects of life. Her pictures are beautiful and charming. She used impassion
method to portray the pictures if life in her novels. Her pictured pulsate with
life but the panorama unfolded in her works is not of a succession in a
straight of life just like cinematographer projects different background
pictures in the film according to its script.
Virginia Woolf is a prose writer of
high order. Her prose sparkles with flashes of poetic beauty and charm. She is
a word painter providing snapshots like a photographer. She works as a
conscious and meticulous artist. Her invention of new trend of novel writing,
her skill full method and her life like projection of characters made her one
of the greatest novelist of English literature.
E.M. Forster:
He started
his career at the early age of 25 and produced his first novel, “Where Angels Fear to Tread”(1905). This
novel satires the conventional morality of the upper middle class people. His Second
novel, “The Longest Journey”(1907) also
projects the same conflict between convention and nature. “Howard’s End” presents the conflict between second classes of
society where the novelist tried to project the class different and corruption
that was present in the contemporary society. “A Passage to India”(1924) is considered the first and the best work
of Forster. It upholds the complex problems which were being found in the
relationship between the English and the native Indian people. This novel
serves as a historical document of British occupied in India. Through this
novel Forster tried to bring about reconciliation between East and the West.
Forster has been considered as a
realist but the fact is that he takes greater delight in attacking realism
through his novels. The novelist paints his characters with impartiality keeping
himself as a bystander. He does not identified himself with anyone of his
characters but he always stands a little aloof just as a sympathetic spectator
and projects the character with all reality. His “A Passage to India” is a realistic presentation of Anglo-Indian
relationship and the racial prejudice of the whites and the sufferings of the
black. Forster is basically a moralist upholding the cause of culture, tolerance
and civilization and attacks barbarism and materialism.
E.M. Forster is not only a writer of
the heights of James Joyce but he is a fine and enduring artist and the only
British novelist who reveals every reality and every fault of British supremacy.
Wishing you a best of luck & praying you a successful
everywhere, by Podmeswar