I have been
listening for the terminology we are using in class to describe Woolf's
book and most often I hear us using the word "story." But is
this really what the book is? I would argue that it isn't really a story,
and Woolf herself describes it as a "playpoem" instead. I like
this description a lot and it seems to fit well with the book we have here,
especially the "play" part. The book really is told in a
play-like format: primarily dialogue with little action told outside of the
dialogue. I’m wondering what you
guys think about this? What about the “poem” part?
This is a genuine and worthy question and I sure would like to see some answers to it.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I might argue against is the point you make about The Waves being primarily dialogue. Although it would appear (in terms of punctuation and formatting) that the book is entirely dialogue, it seems (from what I've gathered in discussion) that we're convinced that these characters are rarely (or never) actually saying their thoughts aloud. As I was writing this comment, however, I started thinking that maybe your comparison to a play is appropriate because the chunks of dialogue could be taken as internal monologues that the reader is privileged with in order to better understand the character's interiority. It's as if we were given a play's monologues, but nothing else.
ReplyDeleteCounterquestion: do we actually gain anything by placing The Waves in a genre to begin with?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Is your question genuine or rhetorical? I might respond by countering the counterquestion: can we avoid genre?
ReplyDeleteMy question was actually genuine, though I don't personally feel as though there's too much to be gained by saying this is poetry or this is fiction. It seems to have the some of the advantages and disadvantages of both; the lyrical-present (of "poetry") supports Woolf's philosophical treatment of the moment, and the quasi-narrative that undermines itself benefits from fiction's focus on time. But naturally, these are in contention. It seems like both/neither situation to me. I'd say The Waves creates it's own form, and thus, it's own genre.
ReplyDelete