A Study Of The Literary Techniques Used In Virginia Woolf's Stream Of Consciousness Novels

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is widely recognized as one of the pioneers and leading figures of the movement of modernism. Her greatest contribution to this era and this movement is her technical innovations in novel writing, most notably her development of stream-of-consciousness narrative. By adopting quite original,unique and ingenuous literary techniques, she succeeds in enabling the reader to see the flickers at the recesses of her characters'consciousness. As a result, she is admired as a master of the stream of consciousness novel. By analyzing five of her stream of consciousness novels, Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves and Between the Acts, this study focuses on Virginia Woolf's literary techniques she adopts in her stream of consciousness novel writing, especially on those which show her originality, uniqueness and ingenuity. The introduction is mainly about the significance of the study of the literary techniques used in Virginia Woolf's stream of consciousness novels. The second section examines the contrast between the literary techniques adopted by Virginia Woolf in her stream of consciousness novels and those used in traditional novels in regard to such narrative conventions as plot and characterization, followed by analyses of the aesthetic values and philosophical convictions Woolf tries to put across through the technical innovation in her stream of consciousness novels. The third section comprises a comparison of the techniques used in Virginia Woolf's stream of consciousness novels and those in the works written by her contemporary stream of consciousness novelists like James Joyce and William Faulkner concerning such experimental devices as interior monologue, symbolic imagery, and shuffle of time and space. The fourth section scrutinizes the different styles used in different stream of consciousness novels of Virginia Woolf. The fifth section highlights Virginia Woolf's contributions to modern fiction through her technical innovation in stream of consciousness novels and mentions in passing her limitations as far as craftsmanship is considered. The concluding section of the thesis points to the necessity of further study on Virginia Woolf. Through the array of the aforesaid comparisons and contrasts, this thesis throws new light on the originality, uniqueness and ingenuity of the literary techniques Virginia Woolf adopts in her stream of consciousness novels. Thus gradually emerges the image of an immortal fiction writer who is both a proponent of avant-garde aesthetics and a master hand at technical innovation.