Tradition And Innovation

The famous French narratologist Gerald Genette gave the name"zero focalization"or"non-focalization"to the omniscient narration in traditional narratives. Zero focalization was adopted largely in novels before 19th century, when narrator overtopped narration in which he had the privilege to interpret characters'thoughts and actions and comment on ongoing events. In her fictions, however, Virginia Woolf intentionally refrained from using zero focalization unless she was obliged to reveal rough settings and status of characters. As a result, omniscient narrative was lessened to a minimum and zero focalization became only a supplementary method that Woolf intermittently employed in her fictions. Internal focalization narration refers to observation and perception of things and events from the viewpoint and standpoint of a certain character in the fiction, where the narrator never reveals things or events beyond each character's sense. The narrator and the character concerned, due to their similar viewpoints, have mood and emotion in common. Internal focalization common in Woolf's fiction, for its covert flexibility, serves as a handy tool with which she could present her character's stream of consciousness. Frequent shift among internal focalizers features Woolf's fictions. Narrators can approach every mind of one character after another by changing focalizers. Smashing the framework of single type focalization which dominated traditional novels, Woolf alternately employed internal focalization and zero focalization to reveal the inner world of her protagonist, her narrator, and a variety of characters.