The Novel Takes A Wrong Turn

[poliphilo]

This just came my way. It's a quote from Virginia Woolf.

"Characters are to be merely views: personality must be avoided at all costs."

I guess she was reacting against the Victorian novel and in accordance with what she knew about modern Psychology, but character is one of the things that makes you want to keep turning the page. The Waves is beautifully written, but the absence of characters (instead you have a set of virtually indistinguishable points of view) makes it almost unreadable.

Comments

[catvalente.livejournal.com]

Well, the middle is largely taken up with Percival, the friend who dies.

I wasn't forced to read it, I loved it, life of the mind is A OK by me.