Narrative Theory in Virgina Woolfs To the Lighthouse Essay -- To the

Beginning, Plot, Sequence, ClosureTeaching To the Lighthouse story theory is extremely effective in teaching modernist fiction its revival in the beginning of the twentieth century may be a direct response to the practices of modernist fiction. wiz of the most important components of autobiography theory is what I call narrative kinetics, or the related issues of presentation of the story from the choice of beginning point, by dint of the arrangement of linear and nonlinear sequences of events, to the function of the ending. Each aspect of the dynamics produces a distinctive teaching opportunity and (it is hoped) a different kindly of noesis. A focus on beginnings, narrative middles, and endings allows one to cover any narrative form, engage in productive dialogues with a host of early narrative theorists from Aristotle to Henry James (the latter always a undischarged source of impressive epigrams), and draw on the students own experience and judgments. In addition, many tr enchant observations feces be culled from the narrative theory compose by modern writers like James, Edith Wharton, E. M. Forster, and Virginia Woolf.Readings in narrative theory loosely help students get the fullest experience from the more confusing or multiplex texts of the twentieth century. For the purposes of this discussion, I will invoke Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse, a give-up the ghost that shows how helpful every aspect of narrative analysis can be. (For those who pick a shorter text, I can recommend Maurice Blanchots The Madness of the Day, Margaret Atwoods Happy Endings, or Jeanette Wintersons The Poetics of Sex.)Some undergraduates are affect to learn that the author has to select the point at which to begin her novel, and astonished to learn t... ... place simultaneously with our reception of the final words of the text. It is as if author, character, and reader are united in unprecedented act of fusion. We go on to read D. A. Miller, Peter Rabinowitz, Rac hel Blau DuPlessis, and Russell Reising on the subject and debate the sexual congress strengths of each position, paying particular attention to Reisings critiques of Miller and Barbara Herrnstein smith and discussing which theory most adequately encompasses their reading of Woolf. The end result is that students can become theoretically informed, sophisticated readers of difficult texts, and can carry that knowledge on to the interpretation of other narratives they go on to experience.Works CitedBrian Richardson, ed. Narrative Dynamics Essays on Time, Plot, Closure, and Frames. Ohio State University Press, 2002.Virgina Woolf, To the Lighthouse, HBJ, 1981.