While writing my pastiche, Virginia Woolf's critique of modern fiction suddenly popped into my mind. According to Virginia Woolf, an important aspect in fiction should be that it gives the audience a personal encounter with another person. Fiction generally isn't what I thought of as a personal encounter with someone else, to me, I always thought of fiction as the leisurely activity that I did in my down time (much like watching a movie), but in The Mezzanine we basically get to spend a couple of minutes (which spans into a full length novel) inside of someone else's body/head. This huge influx of information gives you a very good insight into one person's thoughts, actions, and fears. Even now, I've managed to slip into the "Baker" mindset because I feel like I know Howie so well.
Then as I was writing my pastiche, I realized I put a lot of personal details that weren't necessarily inappropriate, but it wasn't something that you would know about a random person on the streets or even an acquaintance. That is when I realized how truly personal fiction can be, and that's when I really understood what Virginia Woolf was talking about. In both Mrs. Dalloway and The Mezzanine, the authors managed to convey a peak into another persons brain without giving a detailed description on who this character is. Instead, the reader must experience things with the characters and I think this really helps us better understand and empathize with the character (Septimus for example). In addition, we get a more comprehensive understanding of the character by hearing what they think about themselves (and what others think of them in Mrs. Dalloway) rather than what a 3rd person narrator wants us to know about the character.
When I went back and considered the novels that I've read that were primarily plot driven, I didn't really get to know the characters because I was so caught up with the story and finding out what happened. The authors of these novels also relied on the plot to give their book a purpose, but in The Mezzanine Baker uses Howie and his thoughts to drive the book (but in a much subtler way than plot driven books). But as I've become more and more used to this way of writing (character focused), I've realized just how interesting and thought provoking these types of novel are.
When I went back and considered the novels that I've read that were primarily plot driven, I didn't really get to know the characters because I was so caught up with the story and finding out what happened. The authors of these novels also relied on the plot to give their book a purpose, but in The Mezzanine Baker uses Howie and his thoughts to drive the book (but in a much subtler way than plot driven books). But as I've become more and more used to this way of writing (character focused), I've realized just how interesting and thought provoking these types of novel are.
I agree with you about how we got to know Septimus in Mrs. Dalloway. I feel like I know him so well and I had time to form my opinions about him as I experienced his life alongside him.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized that kind of connection existed between Mrs. Dalloway and the Mezzanine. Both give consist of personal and character-driven narratives, as you pointed out, but in very different ways.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting how, like you said, after reading these novels the way other characters are presented in other novels seems so mysterious. I think Virginia Woolf touched upon this idea as well by saying that we assume so much about characters by their actions and possessions and their physical traits, but we never really get to know who they really are. Stepping away from works like Mrs. Dalloway and The Mezzanine makes it difficult to find some characters in popular fiction truly believable. It makes me wonder what novels (for example: The Hunger Games) would be like if they went into more psychological detail of each character.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you put it, "rather than what a 3rd person narrator wants us to know about the character," is a super good way to think about things. Both authors sort of pushed the boundaries of convention with the structure of their books, and though the subject matter is totally different, the idea is really similar. Knowing such intimate, deep details about someone's life, beyond the point of reader's comfort sometimes; living in a character's brain for the duration of a novel changes how you view them so so much! Howie seems like a normal mid-20's guy at first, but after reading the novel all the way through, there are so many quirks, thoughts, and emotions that come out of him, its kind of amazing (but its just the average human brain!!). The same goes for almost all of the characters in Mrs. Dalloway. I think, since having become comfortable with this style of writing through these two books, its going to be harder for me to readjust to reading conventional, plot driven books. Learning so much about characters allows you to look deep into them, and reflect on yourself and YOUR habits and quirks based on theirs, and I think that's so so cool!! I really enjoy this style of writing and I think the connection you drew was a very true one.
ReplyDeleteDetailed minds also give us an indirect view of the writer. I think that it is important to keep in mind that, in the vein of highly developed characters, each individual that any author- including Woolf and Baker- produces have certain impressions of their creator. Especially when you delve deep into a person's written psyche, it is hard for an author to fabricate the most intricate pieces of a person's personality, in which case they must turn to their own mind and experience for material, thus giving us a window into their own personality. Thinking about this during reading can prove quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Non-fiction, while great, can't always be as personal, because there has to be some sort of objectivity for the story to be true, and thus non-fictitious. Septimus was a character that I very personally got to understand and empathize with. I didn't live his experiences, but Woolf really helped me form a connection with him. In fiction, you don't need to have the character talk to you in order to feel like you really know them.
ReplyDeleteI love the say you put this! Books that show the inner workings of characters' minds can show you how people completely different from you think, but also that other people have the same kinds of thoughts and observations that you have. Books that focus on plot above character are also fun to read, but they serve kind of a different purpose than intimately character-driven books like Mrs. Dalloway.
ReplyDeleteFiction written as a window into the mind of another human being, whether imaginary or not, can certainly be thought-provoking. In real life, the only thoughts and experiences we get to have are our own, and so this kind of fiction is a powerful tool for truly understanding others. We learn that Septimus, for example, even though he may be perceived by others as mad and relatively worthless to society, actually has some extremely deep and profound insights, and is really a philosopher and a poet at heart. This is just one of the many things we learn to consider from another angle in this kind of character-driven fiction, and for this reason, such fiction may have been one of the few mediums through which Virginia Woolf could accurately portray her experiences with periods of madness in real life.
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