Virginia Woolf’s critique on literature styles, such as Edwardian and Georgian in her time period, can be transposed to more modern themes. As Mrs. Dalloway is to early 20th century novels, The Mezzanine is to later 20th century novels. The Georgian aspects of character and emotion are emphasized in Baker’s novel and instead of following a primarily plot-based story, he relies on the character’s thoughts to drive the book. As well as breaking traditional formulaic story molds, Baker creates a novel that echoes the style of Woolf sixty years earlier.
In Woolf’s essays on literature (Modern Fiction and Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown), she generalizes Edwardian stories as being too materialistic; instead of focusing on the characters and fleshing out the emotions, authors tended to cater to the audience and grind out uninspiring trope-filled stories that relied too much on the plot. In a way, the 1970s trend of literature also followed this theme; old fashioned (more conventional) storytelling like in Segal’s Love Story returned, marking a similarity to Edwardian fiction. More importantly, “genre fiction”, which are stories that are plot based and designed to cater to an audience of a specific genre, became popular and they represent another one of Woolf’s gripes about Edwardian literature; the indulgence of the populace instead of the author’s own desires. The trend of the 1970s is therefore reminiscent of the early 20th century literary period, with authors reverting to themes used fifty years earlier.
In addition to how both the mainstream styles of writing were similar, Baker and Woolf use comparable concepts of Georgian styles to write The Mezzanine and Mrs. Dalloway, respectively. In Woolf’s essays, she supported stories that moved based on its characters and their emotions, and indeed, Mrs. Dalloway exemplifies that idea; the entire story occurs within a single day, with a menagerie of characters’ perspectives to push the story along. As well as the idea of character focus, the simple notion of writing what compels the author is essential. These concepts are thoroughly demonstrated in The Mezzanine, which revolves around the main character’s lunch period and is entirely driven by his thoughts. There is almost no plot in Baker’s story; the substance mainly consists of what the main character thinks and his idiosyncrasies. This style foregoes all modern convention and delves into the character’s mind, much like Mrs. Dalloway tumbles into each character’s perspective and describes their mentality. Also, quite literally, The Mezzanine is an account of what the author wants to write about. No reader at that time would’ve asked for a hundred page narrative on shoelaces.
The same succession of literary styles appears in both ends of the 20th century; Woolf and Baker’s styles are analogous to each other, as well as the mainstream literature that preceded their publications. This raises the question: will this pattern occur later in the future? Will literary style revert back to the retro, classical way of storytelling and usher in a new generation of mold-breaking writers? Did certain historical events affect the culture of novels? Or maybe, will the trend of writing style change because of our exponential technological growth?
This is a really interesting analysis! While I'd considered the similarities between Woolf and Baker's work, I hadn't thought of it as part of a larger trend. I think that, in general, culture tends to be cyclical, repeating roughly every thirty years. Essentially, a trend reaches popularity and is revered until it becomes old-fashioned and retires. Thirty years later, the generation that loved the trend during their childhood has the desire and, more importantly, the power to bring it back (as evidenced by the current resurgence of the eighties in popular culture). Still, even as trends return, they are still reflective of contemporary society as well as their original era (e.g Stranger Things, which while being inspired by the eighties has a distinctly 2010s flavor). So while I think we'll definitely see this oscillation between Georgian and Edwardian styles continue more or less indefinitely, they'll be adapted to modern society, rather than being a directly copied.
ReplyDeleteI agree that both the novels break conventions in their respective time periods. Another way that both of these novels are similar are their focus on the past. Howie relates many of his present discoveries to past technological or societal things. Mrs. Dalloway adds meaning to everyday events with her past experiences. Do you think perhaps the Mezzanine was influenced by Woolf's convention breaking novel?
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