20TH CENTURY FICTION

20th century fiction



20th century fiction

Introduction

The concepts of fiction and literature are distinct. On the one hand, there are nonfictional literary works like essays, memoirs, biographies, histories, writings about nature, and even philosophy. Perhaps things like letter collections, diaries, and journals should also be included in nonfictional writing. On the other, there are nonliterary fictions both within and apart from the world of art. Cinema is full of fictional stories. Paintings represent fictional scenes. Advertising, whatever the medium it employs, often presents us with fictions. However, the concepts of fiction and literature are intertwined (Blake 2010, pp. 61-69). The paradigmatic literary works have steadily drifted exclusively toward works of fiction: novels, stories, poems, and plays.

It might be suggested that fiction always presents some things to the imagination that are placed there simply for the purpose of being imagined. Whether or not they express truths or refer to items in the actual world is irrelevant to their proper functioning in the work. This need not be true in the nonfiction works. This does not mean that fictions cannot contain some elements that are meant to express truth, or pick out actual people, places, or other things. It just means that not everything in the fictional work so functions. Even in a historical novel, where every character picks out a real person from the past, we are to imagine certain doings or conversations without worrying whether they occurred (Blake 2010, pp. 61-69). This fiction has largely been observed in 20th century. In this connection, this study would present the analysis of Mrs. Dalloway, a fictional story, by Virginia Woolf. In fact, Mrs. Dalloway was considered as the masterpieces of Virginia Woolf.

Literary Analysis

Already known for rendering with precision the thoughts and feelings of her characters, Woolf gained additional recognition with her next novel, Mrs. Dalloway, which evokes the actual thought process of a middle-aged woman. Commenting on the work in an essay included in Abinger Harvest, Mujamdar wrote: "It is easy for a novelist to describe what a character thinks of, but to convey the actual process of thinking is a creative feat, and I know of no one except Virginia Woolf who has accomplished it" (Majumdar 1997, pp. 176)

Favourably compared to James Joyce's classic Ulysses, Mrs. Dalloway ranks among Woolf's greatest triumphs. Following the events of a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class Englishwoman, the work is regarded as a stunning document of the state of post-World War I society. The story opens with Mrs. Dalloway making last-minute preparations for a party to be held at her home that evening. Utilizing the stream-of-consciousness technique, Woolf exposes Mrs. Dalloway's inner thoughts as the heroine reviews the course her life has taken. Prior to marrying the respectable but passionless Parliament member Richard Dalloway, Mrs. Dalloway had been pursued by sprightly suitor Peter Walsh. But after an emotionally fulfilling encounter with another woman, Mrs. Dalloway rejected Walsh in favor of Mr. Dalloway, thus insulating herself from the true nature ...