When reading this poetic fiction, I was again and again hypnotized by the intricate reflection of characters involved, the sophisticated points of view, the confusion of hours and duration of time in one’s time…Virginia Woolf’s crafty narrative technique of interior technique often leads me to an splendidly-decorated labyrinth, amazing but confusing. She is so capable of employing her own phrases and weaves her mind with visual words, audible odor, and surreal picture. Mrs. Dalloway thinks aloud, yes, to share means to surrender. So she hardly shares her private emotion with others; she leads a decent and stylish life and behaves like a “a perfect hostess”, that’s the secure life she craves for; she hates Miss Kilman who has an perceptibly threatening influence in her family and tries to rock the bottom with her enthusiastic religious believes and possess Elizabeth; she is vaguely attached to her ex-lover Peter but rebuff him mercilessly and turns to Richard for a secure and culminating wealthy life….But who is Mrs Dalloway? What’s the major idea of this fiction? Whether we should consult the worldly critics for more interpretations? Yes, it’s about time, it’s about madness, about despair and sense of danger beneath the surface of quiet mental flow. Nevertheless, having pushed myself to finish reading this fiction and jotted down some brilliant sentences, I have been so much exasperate that I thought literature depressed me.
“Shall we put life-real life-on the stage?...I think out of the dreary sameness of existence, a measure of dramatic life may be drawn. Even the most commonplace, the deadest among the living, may play a part in a grate drama.. Life we must accept as wee see it before our eyes, men and women as we meet them in the real world, not as we apprehend them in the world of faery. The great human comedy in which each has share, gives limitless scope to the true artist, today as yesterday and as in years gone by.”
At this stage, I have to quote immensely from others to support and cultivate some of my “sensible” justification. In deed, this is a tough job. I should be used to it. Literate is not simply for aesthetic pleasure. It neither serves for the alleged “lofty” goal of achieving something great nor is turned into a monetary venture. It’s an attitude which will induce in me more pleasures, more intended sense of living a good life.
P.S: I should learn to keep to my point and simply my words and relate some works to life and simply truth. Perhaps I should consider do some notes in Chinese to improve the wholeness of my logic and show a clear picture.
Tags: Mrs Dalloway