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

Beginning, Plot, Sequence, Closure educational activity To the LighthouseNarrative theory is extremely useful in teach red-brickist fiction its revival in the beginning of the twentieth century whitethorn be a direct response to the practices of modernist fiction. One of the closely key components of narrative theory is what I call narrative dynamics, or the cerebrate issues of presentation of the story from the choice of beginning point, through the arrangement of additive and nonlinear sequences of events, to the function of the ending. Each aspect of the dynamics produces a classifiable teaching opportunity and (it is hoped) a different kind of knowledge. A counseling on beginnings, narrative middles, and endings allows one to cover every narrative form, shut away in productive dialogues with a host of earlier narrative theorists from Aristotle to enthalpy James (the latter always a great source of baronial epigrams), and draw on the students own experience and judgments. In addition, many trenchant observations can be culled from the narrative theory written by modern writers like James, Edith Wharton, E. M. Forster, and Virginia Woolf.Readings in narrative theory generally help students stick around the fullest experience from the more confusing or complex texts of the twentieth century. For the purposes of this discussion, I will invoke Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse, a work that shows how helpful every aspect of narrative analysis can be. (For those who prefer a shorter text, I can recommend Maurice Blanchots The Madness of the Day, Marg aret Atwoods Happy Endings, or Jeanette Wintersons The Poetics of Sex.)Some undergraduates are surprised to learn that the germ has to select the point at which to begin her novel, and amazed to learn t... ... show up simultaneously with our reception of the final words of the text. It is as if author, character, and realizeer are united in unprecedented act of fusion. We go on to read D. A. Miller, Pet er Rabinowitz, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, and Russell Reising on the subject and debate the relative strengths of each position, gainful 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 rendition 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.