ONLINE! Virginia Woolf: Revolutionary Writer

Virginia Woolf, (1882-1941), a founding member of the Bloomsbury Group (1907-1930), became perhaps the most innovative and influential writer of the 20th century. Woolf rejected the stolid linear narrative form of the Victorian novelists of the 19th century. Instead, to replace what she viewed as Victorian “unrealistic realism,” Woolf developed a narrative technique called “stream of consciousness,” in which her characters' internal thoughts tell the story in what appears to be a chaotic sequence of events, but in reality reflects how our minds actually work! To see this technique in action, read and discuss some of Woolf's essays on writing, as well as several of her short stories.