31 pages • 1 hour read
Virginia WoolfMr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1929A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Index of Terms
Author
The significance of the author has changed in literary history, and in “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown” Woolf considers the role of the writer at the beginning of the 20th century. They can be an “authority” (a word that shares the etymological root), but that is not the meaning that emerges in Woolf’s essay. Woolf tells her readers that their “part is to insist that writers shall come down off their plinths and pedestals, and describe beautifully if possible, truthfully at any rate, our Mrs. Brown” (24). This suggests a subversion of the idea of the author being in control of their text and their characters, empowering the reader to a more active role. This changed relationship between author and reader is indicated when Woolf describes it as an “intercourse of friendship” (21) and suggests that they should be “partners in the business of writing books” (23).
Character
There are two related meanings of the term “character” in Woolf’s essay. It means both “human character” in life, in the sense that a person can be said to have a distinct character. This is evident when Woolf refers to all people as judges of character (3). It also means the representation of a character in literature, which can be seen in Woolf’s discussion of the “conventions” of representation and the diverse examples she uses to illustrate the approaches of different writers. The interaction of these two definitions is important because they make a vibrant connection between life and literature. Character isn’t only a matter of literary style but a key question in human relationships and society.
Edwardian Era
Queen Victoria died in January 1901, marking the end of the Victorian Era. The Edwardian Era refers to the period of British history during the reign of King Edward VII, which ran from 1901 to 1910. It is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War in 1914 to acknowledge the impact that conflict had on shaping generational identities. Edwardian literature was marked by a growing distinction between “highbrow” and popular literature. Famous authors of the period include Arnold Bennett, G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, Saki, George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells. In “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown,” Woolf refers to Edwardian writing as defined by outmoded conventions which are not fit for her own “Georgian” or modern generation.
Georgian Era
Woolf uses the term “Georgian” to describe her contemporaries, that is, writers who emerged during the reign of King George V (1910-1936). This terminology is not common today and might be misleading since the Georgian era typically refers to the period in British history from 1714 to 1830. This pre-Victorian period is named after the sequence of Hanoverian monarchs George I, George II, George III, and George IV. Today, Woolf and her contemporaries are typically called Modernists rather than Georgians. Modernism refers to literature (and other art forms) that used formal experimentation to grapple with the social changes that took place during the first decades of the 20th century.
Related Titles
By Virginia Woolf
