Famous Last Words: Authored by Virginia Woolf
British author of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf, left this Earth by drowning herself on March 28th, 1941. Before she died, Woolf had already composed "Between the Acts," her last book ever to be written. The text had not been edited. On 10.5.1941, the New York Times printed a review of this text stating that Virginia Woolf was "the sole indisputable genius among contemporary British women-of-letters...." I believe that remains truer still to this day.
"Between the Acts" is one of Woolf's thickly veiled fictional novels that remains her most scathing criticism of what was supposed to be Western
'civilisation'. "Three Guineas" wasn't a novel, therefore, I am not counting it among Woolf's novels that were loaded with the intellectual acumen of a social critic par excellance.
This story, like "Mrs. Dalloway," takes place in one 24 hour period: a day. This time, it is June, 1939. Hitler has not publicly revealed his intention to seize Poland by a massive invasion. England hasn't yet entered the battle theater of WWII. A small village where Isa & her husband live, is preparing for a pageant.
Woolf, as usual, is clever enough to draw in a reader to her overt focal point, then use it allegorically. "Between the Acts" is really about what's going on in society 'between the lines' Woolf actually penned. Woolf was such an expert at making readers think about what she is not writing. Her prose is nearly poetic it has such a rhythm. It flows around her ellipses.
While reading the story of what happens before, between the acts, and after the pageant ends, Woolf builds a reader's emotional tensions up for the moment of release (jouissance).
By making the pageant the central feature of this text, Woolf skillfully insists that readers pay much more attention to what's going on apart from it. I become nearly intoxicated by Woolf's senses. Her metaphorical imagery seduces me to see an unspeakable history.
"Between the Acts" is as perfect an example of what is now known as "critical fiction." The text itself is so liminal that it's difficult to tell the difference between Woolf's biting social criticism and the story's fiction.
After I finished reading this book, I was left wanting more, knowing there wouldn't be any. These were her last words attempting to communicate to us, with remarkable genius, what she knew all too well was going wrong with society. Indeed, between the covers of this book are "famous last words," that resonate loud and clear to a contemporary audience on the brink of very similar disasters~Read full review
